The Text
Meditations XI.34
A man while fondly kissing his child, says Epictetus, should whisper in his heart82: ‘To-morrow peradventure thou wilt die.’ Ill-omened words these! Nay, said he, nothing is ill-omened that signifies a natural process. Or it is ill-omened also to talk of ears of corn being reaped.
- 82.The same, iii. 24, § 88.