Meditations #21

 I travel the roads of nature until the hour when I shall lie down and be at rest; yielding back my last breath into the air from which I had drawn it daily, and sinking down upon the earth from which my father derived the seed, my mother the blood, and my nurse the milk of my being - the earth which for so many years has furnished my daily meat and drink, and, though so grievously abused, still suffers me to tread its surface.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book Five

We never think of Marcus Aurelius is as an environmentalist, and, certainly, in the modern sense he was not, but this utterly poignant reflection on nature would make any modern lover of the environment nod their head knowingly and sadly. Of course the Earth has long suffered from a Stockholm syndrome-like relationship with its kidnappers, that is, humans. Considering what is happening with global climate change it looks like she has finally come to grips with how we have "grievously abused" her and may be packing up to leave. Alice doesn't live here anymore.