Meaning of “Time, not the will, can put an end…”

Affection cannot always be suppressed by command, but it can still change over time when the conditions that sustained it disappear.

Entering a relationship may involve choice, but the later course of attachment can become more complicated than the decision that began it.

Love is presented as relationship without ownership: closeness does not grant control over another person or require surrender of one’s own personhood.

Stability is temporary, so practical judgment requires expecting change rather than treating present arrangements as permanent.

Continuing to love does not erase the person who died; it refuses to let bereavement close the capacity for relationship permanently.

Seneca divides time into three conditions and gives the present special urgency because it is both available and quickly passing.