We may learn the wish (will) of nature from the things in which we do
not differ from one another: for instance, when your neighbor’s slave
has broken his cup, or anything else, we are ready to say forthwith,
that it is one of the things which happen. You must know then that when
your cup also is broken, you ought to think as you did when your
neighbor’s cup was broken. Transfer this reflection to greater things
also. Is another man’s child or wife dead? There is no one who would
not say, This is an event incident to man. But when a man’s own child
or wife is dead, forthwith he calls out, Woe to me, how wretched I am!
But we ought to remember how we feel when we hear that it has happened
to others.