We shouldn't mourn because someone was born or died. We should mourn because they lost what truly belonged to them during their lifetime. Not the things they inherited from their father. Not their land, house, business, or slaves. None of those things actually belong to anyone. They all belong to others. They're temporary and can be taken away. Different people get them at different times from whoever has the power to give them. I'm talking about the things that belong to someone as a human being. The character traits stamped in their mind when they were born. We look for these same marks on coins. If we find them, we accept the coins. If the marks aren't there, we reject them.
not indeed to lament because a man has been born or has died, but because it has happened to him in his lifetime to have lost the things which are his own, not that which he received from his father, not his land and house, and his inn, and his slaves; for not one of these things is a man's own, but all belong to others, are servile, and subject to account ([Greek: hupeithuna]), at different times given to different persons by those who have them in their power: but I mean the things which belong to him as a man, the marks (stamps) in his mind with which he came into the world, such as we seek also on coins, and if we find them we approve of the coins, and if we do not find the marks we reject them.