October 19, 2026

Follow the Path Assigned

Lead me, O Zeus, and you, O Destiny, to wherever I have been assigned by you. I will follow readily; but if I am unwilling, having become bad, I will follow no less.

Cleanthes led the Stoic school in Athens during the third century BCE, after years spent hauling water by night so he could study philosophy by day. This short prayer, preserved by Epictetus at the close of his Enchiridion, has Cleanthes ask Zeus and Destiny to lead him wherever he is assigned, promising to follow without wavering even if he resists. For the Stoics, death was simply the final assignment on that road, not an exception to be bargained away through worry or delay. Memento mori, in this tradition, means remembering that the road itself is limited, so each stretch of it deserves to be walked rather than dragged through. Practicing this daily strips away the pettiness of minor complaints and restores urgency and gratitude to ordinary hours.

A principle of Stoicism: Memento Mori →