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Seneca · Letter LXX.1

None of us pauses to think that one day we must leave this body, our dwelling, behind — just as tenants stay from love of a place. Treat the body as a house you may leave at any hour.

Seneca, Letters from a Stoic (Letter LXX.1)

What this means

We cling to the body, Seneca observes, the way tenants grow attached to a rented house, forgetting it was never ours to keep. He recommends holding it loosely, ready to leave at any hour. The aim is not gloom but freedom from the fear of an eviction that is certain anyway.

On death, present, control.

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Letters from a Stoic

Seneca · trans. Robin Campbell · Penguin Classics

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