Consequently, our evils are the consequences (of our actions); they are
its necessary effects, not that we are carried away by Providence, but
in the sense that we obey an impulsion whose principle is in ourselves.
We ourselves then indeed try to reattach our acts to the plan of
Providence, but we cannot conform their consequences to its will; our
acts, therefore, conform either to our will, or to other things in
the universe, which, acting on us, do not produce in us an affection
conformed to the intentions of Providence. In fact, the same cause does
not act identically on different beings, for the effects experienced
by each differ according to their nature. Thus Helena causes emotions
in Paris which differ from those of Idumeneus.[90] Likewise, the
handsome man produces on a handsome man an effect different from that
of the intemperate man on the intemperate; the handsome and temperate
man acts differently on the handsome and temperate man than on the
intemperate; and than the intemperate on himself. The deed done by
the intemperate man is done neither by Providence, nor according to
Providence.[91] Neither is the deed done by the temperate man done by
Providence; since he does it himself; but it conforms to Providence,
because it conforms to the Reason (of the universe). Thus, when a man
has done something good for his health, it is he himself who has done
it, but he thereby conforms to the reason of the physician; for it is
the physician who teaches him, by means of his art, what things are
healthy or unhealthy; but when a man has done something injurious to
his health, it is he himself who has done it, and he does it against
the providence of the physician.