When death seems like something terrible, keep this rule ready: you should avoid terrible things, but death is unavoidable. So what can I do? Where can I run from it? Let's say I'm not some hero like Sarpedon who can say noble things like: 'I'll go into battle. Either I'll be brave myself, or I'll give someone else the chance to be brave. If I can't do anything great myself, at least I won't stop others from doing something great.' But suppose we can't act like heroes. Can't we at least think like them? Tell me where I can escape death. Show me the country where death never visits. Show me the people who never die. Find me a magic spell against death. If there isn't one, what do you want me to do? I can't escape death. But I can escape the fear of death. Should I die crying and shaking instead?
When death appears an evil, we ought to have this rule in readiness, that it is fit to avoid evil things, and that death is a necessary thing. For what shall I do, and where shall I escape it? Suppose that I am not Sarpedon, the son of Zeus, nor able to speak in this noble way. I will go and I am resolved either to behave bravely myself or to give to another the opportunity of doing so; if I cannot succeed in doing anything myself, I will not grudge another the doing of something noble. Suppose that it is above our power to act thus; is it not in our power to reason thus? Tell me where I can escape death; discover for me the country, show me the men to whom I must go, whom death does not visit. Discover to me a charm against death. If I have not one, what do you wish me to do? I cannot escape from death. Shall I not escape from the fear of death, but shall I die lamenting and trembling?