The work of the Whole. The cosmos is given as a single agent: "the nature of the whole" (ἡ τῶν ὅλων TERMφύσις) has one "work" (ἔργον) — to transpose, transform, lift and carry things from place to place. Four verbs of motion draw the eternal circulation of matter; it is a compact formula of ceaseless transformation (cf. the image of the river of time, the body as a stream).

Three consolations. From the physics a therapy is drawn. (1) "All is turnings" (πάντα τροπαί) — but this is no cause for fear, "as though anything were new" (μή τι καινόν): all has happened before (7.1: nothing is new, all is familiar and short-lived; 6.37: whoever has seen the present has seen all). (2) "All is familiar" (πάντα συνήθη) — DOGMAacceptance removes the shock of novelty. (3) "And the apportionments are equal" (ἴσαι αἱ ἀπονεμήσεις) — fate's dealing is proportionate, none is stinted or singled out; the same thought of just distribution is unfolded in 8.7 (κατ’ ἀξίαν). The governing discipline is desire (acceptance of transformation), the sustaining one assent (not to judge change a "new evil").