To have died once is enough.

The Roman poet Virgil, the master of the Aeneid and the voice of Rome’s moral imagination, once wrote: “To have died once is enough.” Though short in form, this saying carries the weight of ages. It speaks of courage, of endurance, and of the folly of living as though death must be endured again and again. To die once is the law of nature; to die a thousand times in fear, regret, or cowardice is the failure of spirit. Virgil, who sang of heroes and nations rising from ruin, understood that life’s greatness lies not in avoiding death, but in living fully before it comes.

In these few words, Virgil reminds humanity of a truth the ancients knew well: that death is not the enemy—fear is. The body must die only once, but the fearful heart dies each day. Those who live in dread of loss, failure, or suffering drain life of its sweetness long before their final breath. The wise, therefore, learn to walk with death as an equal, not as a tyrant. They accept mortality as part of the grand order of things, and in that acceptance, they find peace. Thus, to “have died once” means not only to pass from this world, but to be liberated from the fear of dying, to live as one who has already made peace with the inevitable.

The origin of this wisdom lies deep in the soul of the classical world. Virgil, who lived during the reign of Augustus, saw the transition of Rome from chaos to empire. He witnessed war, destruction, and the fall of the republic. Yet through his poetry, he taught his people not to despair. In the Aeneid, he wrote of Aeneas, the hero who lost everything—his city, his wife, his home—but who never lost purpose. Aeneas endured every hardship because he believed that even in ruin, there was destiny. To live bravely, to face the storm, and to rise after tragedy—this, Virgil implies, is to conquer death long before one’s final moment arrives.

History, too, offers living mirrors of this truth. Consider the life of Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison, confined to a cell so small that he could barely stretch his legs. Yet though the world sought to bury him alive, his spirit did not die. When at last he was freed, he said, “I was prepared to die for my cause.” In that readiness, he had already died once—in the sense that he had surrendered all fear, all clinging, all vanity. What remained was courage, grace, and vision. Such men and women cannot be enslaved, for the one who no longer fears death has mastered life.

To live as Virgil taught is to live with dignity and awareness. It is to understand that the true tragedy is not death itself, but a life unlived. Each moment wasted in resentment or fear is a kind of dying; each act of love, service, or creation is a rebirth. Those who give themselves wholly to purpose and compassion die only once, but live a thousand lives in between. The coward, by contrast, dies a thousand times before the grave ever opens, for his spirit has already surrendered.

This quote also carries a subtler wisdom: that grief and trauma, though devastating, must not become endless deaths of the soul. When we lose someone or something dear, we feel as though a part of us has died—and indeed, it has. But Virgil’s teaching urges us not to dwell forever in that death. “To have died once is enough,” he reminds us; to remain buried in sorrow is to refuse life’s renewal. Mourning has its season, but life—persistent, luminous, insistent—calls us forward once more.

Therefore, my child, remember this teaching: Live so that when death comes, it finds you already whole. Do not die each day in fear or bitterness; die only once, at the appointed hour, and let every day before it be filled with meaning. When loss comes, let it wound you, but not consume you. When hardship strikes, let it teach, but not define you. For to live in truth, love, and courage is to already be immortal in the hearts of those who follow after you.

And so, Virgil’s words echo through the centuries—not as a lament, but as a call to strength. To die once is destiny; to live well until then is art. Let us, therefore, live bravely, forgive quickly, give generously, and fear nothing—for the wise know that a single death is enough, but a life fully lived is worth eternity.