16.
You should not estimate our worth by our funeral mounds or by these monuments of unequal size which line the road; their ashes level all men!
We are unequal at birth, but are equal in death.
What I say about cities I say also about their inhabitants: Ardea was captured as well as Rome.
The great founder of human law has not made distinctions between us on the basis of high lineage or of illustrious names, except while we live.
When, however, we come to the end which awaits mortals, he says: “Depart, ambition!
To all creatures that burden the earth let one and the same law apply!” For enduring all things, we are equal; no one is more frail than another, no one more certain of his own life on the morrow.
Book: Moral Letters Vol II
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: On the lesson to be drawn from the burning of Lyons
Location: Chapter 91, Section 16
Content:
16.
You should not estimate our worth by our funeral mounds or by these monuments of unequal size which line the road; their ashes level all men!
We are unequal at birth, but are equal in death.
What I say about cities I say also about their inhabitants: Ardea was captured as well as Rome.
The great founder of human law has not made distinctions between us on the basis of high lineage or of illustrious names, except while we live.
When, however, we come to the end which awaits mortals, he says: “Depart, ambition!
To all creatures that burden the earth let one and the same law apply!” For enduring all things, we are equal; no one is more frail than another, no one more certain of his own life on the morrow.