You have asked me, Lucilius, why it is, if the world is governed by a
Providence, that so many misfortunes befall good men. To this an answer
would more properly be given in a work in which I should undertake to
prove that a Providence presides over the affairs of men, and that God
dwells among us. But since you deem it best to take a small portion of
the whole subject, and to settle this single disputed question, the main
proposition meanwhile being left untouched, I shall undertake a case of
little difficulty: I shall plead the cause of the gods.
2. It is superfluous to show at the present time that so great a work
does not stand fast and firm without an overseer; that the regular
course of the heavenly bodies is not a fortuitous concourse of atoms;
that those objects which chance puts in motion are subject to frequent
disturbances and sudden collisions; that this harmonious velocity is
under the sway of an eternal law governing everything on land and sea,
no less than the brilliant luminaries which shine according to a
prearranged plan; that this order is not the result of elements moving
about at random, neither can fortuitous aggregations of matter cohere
with such art that the immense mass of the earth remains motionless
while beholding the rapid gyrations of the heavenly bodies about itself;
that the seas poured into the valleys to fructify the soil never feel
any increase from rivers; or that enormous vegetation grows from the
minutest seeds.
3. Not even those things that appear to be uncertain and without
regularity—I mean rains and clouds and the bolts of lightning darting
from the clouds, and fires poured from the cleft summits of mountains,
and the quakings of the tottering ground, and such other disturbances of
the earth about us—are without a rational explanation, unforeseen though
they be. These things, too, have their causes, not less those which,
when they appear in unexpected places, are regarded as prodigies, such
as warm springs among the billows or new insular lands rising up in the
vast expanse of the sea.
4. Moreover, if one has observed the beach laid bare by the waves of the
retiring sea and covered again within a brief space of time, does he
believe that the waves have been contracted and drawn inward by a kind
of blind restlessness, to burst forth again to seek with a mighty onset
their accustomed seats, especially since the waters increase at regular
intervals and move according to a fixed day and hour just as the lunar
star attracts them more or less, under whose influence the ocean
regulates its ebb and flow? However, these questions had better be
reserved for their proper place, since you do not deny the existence of
a providence, but only bring complaints against it.
5. I wish to reconcile you with the gods since they regard the best men
with the most favor. For in the nature of things, what is good can never
harm the good. Between good men and the gods a friendship exists, virtue
being the bond of amity. Friendship, do I say? nay, more; it is a near
relationship and likeness, since the good man differs from God only in
time; he is His pupil and imitator, His true offspring, whom his august
father, no lenient trainer in the virtues, brings up somewhat rigorously
after the manner of stern parents.
6. Accordingly, when you see good men, the favorites of the gods,
toiling, sweating, ascending by hard paths, and the bad living in
licentious indulgence and growing effeminate in luxury, consider that we
too are gratified with the sobriety of our sons, but with the wantonness
of our household slaves; that the former gain greater self-control by
the sterner discipline, the latter are confirmed in their presumption.
The same thing is true in regard to God; He does not support the good
man in enervating ease; He tries him, hardens him, prepares him for
Himself.