The will of nature may be learned from things upon which we are all
agreed. As when our neighbor’s boy has broken a cup, or the like, we are
ready at once to say, “These are casualties that will happen”; be
assured, then, that when your own cup is likewise broken, you ought to be
affected just as when another’s cup was broken. Now apply this to greater
things. Is the child or wife of another dead? There is no one who would
not say, “This is an accident of mortality.” But if anyone’s own child
happens to die, it is immediately, “Alas! how wretched am I!” It should
be always remembered how we are affected on hearing the same thing
concerning others.