The view from above. The classic formula of the exercise EXERCISE"to survey from above" (ἄνωθεν ἐπιθεωρεῖν): from on high — the countless herds (ἀγέλαι), rites (τελεταί), ships in storm and calm, and the procession of "things coming to be, being together, passing away" (γινομένων, συγγινομένων, ἀπογινομένων). Spatial distance shrinks the human bustle to an anthill (cf. 7.48; 7.3).

And the distance of time. To space is added history: the lives of those before, those to come, the barbarians now; how many do not know your name, will soon forget it, and how the ones praising you will soon blame you. The conclusion — DOGMA"neither memory, nor fame, nor anything else is of any account" (οὐκ ἀξιόλογον) (cf. 4.33; 2.17). The double optics — across space and through time — deflates the craving for recognition. The governing discipline is desire.