As I mentioned in the first chapter of this volume, Marcus Aurelius, like many of the philosophers of antiquity, held the view that man ought to live according to the dictates of human nature. The theory recurs again and again in his “Thoughts.” “The fig tree lives according to its kind, the dog like the dog, bees like bees, and man like man.” He expresses this view still more emphatically in the following words: “Man must live in conformity with the laws of his nature.” “No one will prevent you from living according to the laws of nature, and nothing can happen to you that is not in accordance with nature’s universal law.” “Neither hand nor foot can do that which is contrary to the laws of nature, because the foot can only fulfil the functions of the foot, and the hand those of the hand. Similarly with man, to behave as a man is not to defy nature’s laws, because it is only fulfilling the functions of man. And that which is not against nature cannot be evil.” Being full of this theory, Marcus Aurelius applied it to death, which, being a natural phenomenon, was to be accepted without protest. “For, after all, nature forges the links and nature breaks them. Is she about to sever them? Very well, let us then say farewell as if we were taking leave of our friends, but let there be no tearing of the heart strings, and let us go willingly, and so avoid being dragged away. This, too, is in accordance with the laws of nature.” “Philosophy,” according to Marcus Aurelius, “is to await death peacefully, and to regard it as merely the dissolution of the elements which compose the human frame. Such is the law of nature, and whatever is in conformity with nature is not evil.” Death, being a phenomenon in conformity with nature, must be submitted to. “Do not abuse death,” advises Marcus Aurelius, “but accept it with resignation, as being in accordance with the will of nature. Do we not pass on from infancy to youth, grow up, and become tall and attain manhood? Do not our teeth come, our beards grow, and our hair turn white? If we marry, do we not beget children? Are not all such events in their due season, and the work of nature? Death comes through the same agency. It therefore behoves a wise man to approach death with neither anger, repugnance, nor contempt, but to await it like any other operation of nature.” _Resignation_, then, is what this form of philosophy amounts to. Not only must death be accepted as inevitable when it comes after a long life, but even if it surprise us at an unexpected time. “He who dies after reaching the uttermost limits of human life,” says Marcus Aurelius, “has reached no further than he who comes to a premature end. It is the same in the end, whether there are a hundred years to look back upon, or whether there are only three.”