Cicero on dying before one’s time

“Away, then, with those follies, such as that it is miserable to die before our time. What time do you mean? That of nature? But she has only lent you life, as she might lend you money, without fixing any certain time for its repayment. Have you any grounds of complaint, then, that she recalls it at her pleasure? For you received it on these terms. …

Because there is nothing beyond old age, we call that long: all these things are said to be long or short, according to the proportion of time they were given us for.

Aristotle said there is a kind of insect near the river Hypanis, which runs from a certain part of Europe into the Pontus, whose life consists but of one day; those that die at the eighth hour die in full age; those who die when the sun sets are very old, especially when the days are at the longest.

Compare our longest life with eternity, and we shall be found almost as short-lived as those little animals.”

(Tusculan Disputations, I.39)

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