Is the soul the cause of these passions, because she begets the beings
that produce them? Does the soul then consider the whole sequence
of events, and does she pass her existence watching the "passions"
experienced by her works? Does she never cease thinking of the latter,
does she never put on them the finishing touch, regulating them so that
they should always go well?[259] Does she resemble some farmer who,
instead of limiting himself to sowing and planting, should ceaselessly
labor to repair the damage caused by the rains, the winds, and the
storms? Unless this hypothesis be absurd, it must be admitted that
the soul knows in advance, or even that the ("seminal)[260] reasons"
contain accidents which happen to begotten beings, that is, their
destruction and all the effects of their faults.[261] In this case,
we are obliged to say that the faults are derived from the ("seminal)
reasons", although the arts and their reasons contain neither error,
fault, nor destruction of a work of art.[262]