§5.23.1Πολλάκις ἐνθυμοῦ τὸ τάχος τῆς παραφορᾶς καὶ ὑπεξαγωγῆς τῶν ὄντων καὶ γινομένων.
Often reflect on the swiftness with which the things that exist and the things that are coming into being are carried away and disappear.
ἤ τε γὰρ οὐσία οἷον ποταμὸς ἐν διηνεκεῖ ῥύσει καὶ αἱ ἐνέργειαι ἐν συνεχέσι μεταβολαῖς καὶ τὰ αἴτια ἐν μυρίαις τροπαῖς καὶ σχεδὸν οὐδὲν ἑστὼς καὶ τὸ πάρεγγυς·
For substance is like a river in a continuous flow, activities are in constant changes, causes are in myriad turns, and almost nothing is stable, even that which is close at hand.
τὸ δὲ ἄπειρον τοῦ τε παρῳχηκότος καὶ μέλλοντος ἀχανές, ᾧ πάντα ἐναφανίζεται.
And the infinity of both the past and the future is a yawning abyss, in which all things disappear.
πῶς οὖν οὐ μωρὸς ὁ ἐν τούτοις φυσώμενος ἢ σπώμενος ἢ σχετλιάζων ὡς ἔν τινι χρόνῳ καὶ ἐπὶ μακρὸν ἐνοχλήσαντι;
How, then, is he not foolish who in these things is puffed up, or distracted, or distresses himself, as if they were for some lasting time and had troubled him for a long period?