“Since it is possible that thou mayest depart from life this very moment, regulate every act and thought accordingly.”

Book 2, section 11, kept on 19 January. I do not read it as gloomy. It is a sorting rule: if this were the last hour, would I still be rewriting that status update? Usually not.

It sits next to ⚓ Time is the only thing I own, which says the same thing in Seneca's accent. I reread it in the flat weeks of July, when nothing was wrong and I was still spending days as if they were refundable.