How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter)
Quote #4
All things fade and quickly turn to myth: quickly too utter oblivion drowns them. And I am talking of those who shone with some wonderful brilliance: the rest, once they have breathed their last, are immediately 'beyond sight, beyond knowledge.' (4.33)
The impermanence of fame is an appropriate theme for the Emperor of Rome to harp on, especially if he's trying to keep perspective on his role in the world. In his acknowledgment of the ephemeral nature of fame and memory, Marcus also acknowledges that he is among the privileged few: as emperor, his fame will last longer than that of the everyday worker. (He had no idea just how long that fame would actually last.)
Quote #5
All is ephemeral, both memory and the object of memory (4.35)
You may sense a theme by now: stuff doesn't last. Everything changes and decays. But in this little phrase, Marcus hits on something else: the utter oblivion of things that live only in memory. He's been clear up to this point about the transient nature of the flesh, but now Marcus acknowledges that the memory of a person's fame is equally fragile. It's because, of course, that memory resides in the minds of others, who will also fade and fall.
Quote #6
So every part of me will be assigned its changed place in some part of the universe, and that will change again into another part of the universe, and so on to infinity. A similar sequence of change brought me into existence, and my parents before me, and so back in another infinity of regression. (5.13)
Marcus finds comfort—or at least neutrality—in the constant movement of substance through the universe. It's all like a great recycling center in the sky. That movement is the origin of everything—and its final destination as well. Whether this creeps you out or not, Marcus believes that he's just walking a path that everyone else who has ever lived (or who will ever live) has to walk. Dissolution is democratic in nature and necessary for the health of the world.