Every individual, therefore, occupies, according to justice, the
place he deserves, just as each string of the lyre is fixed to the
place assigned to it by the nature of the sounds it is to render. In
the universe everything is good and beautiful if every being occupy
the place he deserves, if, for instance, he utter discordant sounds
when in darkness and Tartarus; for such sounds fit that place. If the
universe is to be beautiful, the individual must not behave "like a
stone" in it; he must contribute to the unity of the universal harmony
by uttering the sound suitable to him (as thought Epictetus[75]). The
sound that the individual utters is the life he leads, a life which is
inferior in greatness, goodness and power (to that of the universe).
The shepherd's pipe utters several sounds, and the weakest of them,
nevertheless, contributes to the total Harmony, because this harmony
is composed of unequal sounds whose totality constitutes a perfect
harmony. Likewise, universal Reason though one, contains unequal parts.
Consequently, the universe contains different places, some better, and
some worse, and their inequality corresponds to the inequality of the
soul. Indeed, as both places and souls are different, the souls that
are different find the places that are unequal, like the unequal parts
of the pipe, or any other musical instrument. They inhabit different
places, and each utters sounds proper to the place where they are, and
to the universe. Thus what is bad for the individual may be good for
the totality; what is against nature in the individual agrees with the
nature in the whole. A sound that is feeble does not change the harmony
of the universe, as--to use another example--one bad citizen does not
change the nature of a well-regulated city; for often there is need of
such a man in a city; he therefore fits it well.