The Allotted Day

Epic mortality and Marcus's welcome to nature's timing

A life has limits that courage and love cannot remove. Hector and Jupiter speak of the portion assigned to each mortal; Marcus asks how a person can welcome the timing of the whole. Their shared concern is how to live with necessity, though their reasons for accepting it differ.

1. Iliad 6.486–489
2. Aeneid 10.464–473
3. Meditations 4.23.1