Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 6

Si me quidem velis audire, hoc meditare et exerce, ut mortem et excipias et, si ita res suadebit, accersas. Interest nihil, illa ad nos veniat an ad illam nos. Illud imperitissimi cuiusque verbum falsum esse tibi ipse persuade: Bella res est mori sua morte. Nemo moritur nisi sua morte. Illud praeterea tecum licet cogites: nemo nisi suo die moritur. Nihil perdis ex tuo tempore; nam quod relinquis, alienum est. Vale.

exerce-toi, soit à bien accueillir la mort, soit à la prévenir, si la raison t’y engage. Il n’importe qu’elle vienne à nous, ou que nous allions à elle. Persuade-toi de la fausseté du mot que répètent tous les ignorants : Heureux qui meurt de sa belle mort ! Et puis tu peux te dire : nul ne meurt qu’à son jour. Tu ne perds rien de ta part de temps : qu’abandonnes-tu ? Ce qui n’est pas à toi.

If you will give ear to my advice, ponder and practise this, - how to welcome death, or even, if circumstances commend that course, to invite it. There is no difference whether death comes to us, or whether we go to death. Make yourself believe that all ignorant men are wrong when they say: “It is a beautiful thing to die one’s own death.” But there is no man who does not die his own death. What is more, you may reflect on this thought: No one dies except on his own day. You are throwing away none of your own time; for what you leave behind does not belong to you. Farewell.