Roman Stoicism being lectures on the history of the Stoic...

[41] ‘nec vero si segetibus aut vinetis cuiuspiam tempestas nocuerit, ... eum, cui quid horum acciderit, aut invisum deo aut neglectum a deo [iudicabimus]. magna di curant, parva neglegunt’ Cic. N. D. ii 66, 167; ‘[universorum] maior dis cura quam singulorum est’ Sen. Dial. i 3, 1. See also note 64.

[42] ‘lege deum minimas rerum discordia turbat, | pacem magna tenent’ Lucan Phars. ii 273.

[43] ‘licet contrahere universitatem generis humani eamque gradatim ad pauciores, postremo deducere ad singulos’ Cic. N. D. ii 65, 164.

[44]Hymn, vv. 15, 16.

[45] Plut. comm. not. 34, 5; Sto. rep. 34, 10.

[46] This appears to be the correct interpretation of the saying of Epictetus—‘as a mark is not set up for the purpose of missing the aim, so neither does the nature of evil exist in the world’ Manual 27 (Long’s transl. ii p. 269, where see his note).

[47] ‘faciam rem non difficilem, causam deorum agam’ Sen. Dial. i 1, 1.

[48] Gell. N. A. vii 1, 4 and 5; ‘nulli vitium est, nisi cui virtus potest esse’ Sen. Ep. 124, 19.

[49] Plut. comm. not. 14, 1; M. Ant. vi 42.

[50] A. Gellius, N. A. vii 1, 9 to 11.

[51] Plut. Sto. rep. 32, 2.

[52] Lactantius de ira 13 (Arnim ii 1172).

[53] πλὴν ὁπόσα ῥέζουσι κακοὶ σφετέρῃσιν ἀνοίαις Cleanthes Hymn 18.

[54] Cic. N. D. iii 28, 70.

[55] ‘patrium deus habet adversus bonos viros animum et illos fortiter amat; operibus, inquit, doloribus, damnis exagitentur, ut verum colligant robur’ Sen. Dial. i 2, 6.

[56] ‘deus quos probat, quos amat, indurat, recognoscit, exercet’ ib. 4, 7; ‘when a difficulty falls upon you, remember that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, has matched you with rough young men’ Epict. Disc. i 24, 1.

[57] This view of Origen is conjecturally assigned to a Stoic source (Arnim ii 1174). See also Philo ap. Euseb. praep. ev. viii 13.

[58] Plut. Sto. rep. 15, 2.

[59] Cic. N. D. iii 38, 90; Sen. Ben. iv 32, 1.

[60] Arnim ii 1183.

[61] φησὶ δὲ πολὺ καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης μεμῖχθαι Plut. Sto. rep. 37, 2.

[62] See above, § 222.

[63] Seneca uses the term ‘law of mortality’: ‘minime dis [irascamur]: non enim illorum, sed lege mortalitatis patimur quicquid incommodi accidit’ Dial. iv 28, 4.

[64] ‘sciat illa ipsa, quibus laedi videtur, ad conservationem universi pertinere, et ex iis esse, quae cursum mundi officiumque consummant’ Ep. 74, 20.

[65] ‘di multa ingratis tribuunt. sed illa bonis paraverunt: contingunt etiam malis, quia separari non possunt. excerpere singulos non potuerunt’ Ben. iv 28, 1.

[66] ‘quicquid est quod nos sic vivere sic mori iussit, eadem necessitate et deos adligat’ Dial. i 5, 8.

[67] ‘[God] has given me the things which are in the power of the will. How was he able to make the earthly body free from hindrance? [He could not], and accordingly he has subjected to the revolution of the whole possessions, household things, house, children, wife’ Epict. Disc. iv 1, 100. ‘What says Zeus? since I was not able to do for you what I have mentioned, I have given you a small portion of us’ ib. i 1, 10-12.

[68] ‘non potest artifex mutare materiam’ Sen. Dial. i 5, 9; see also Plut. comm. not. 34, and Mayor on Cic. N. D. ii 34, 86. In technical language, the gods cannot control the ἐπακολουθήματα and συναπτόμενα.

[69] ‘quicquid nobis negatum est, dari non potuit’ Sen. Ben. ii 29, 3.

[70] ‘dementes itaque et ignari veritatis illis imputant saevitiam maris, immodicos imbres, pertinaciam hiemis’ Dial. iv 27, 2.

[71] ‘frustra vota ac studia sunt; habebit quisque quantum illi dies primus adscripsit’ ib. vi 21, 6.

[72] ‘accusare fata possumus, mutare non possumus: stant dura et inexorabilia’ ib. xi 4, 1.

[73] See above, § 226, note 46. Fortune only has ultimate existence if identified with fate or providence; ‘sic nunc naturam voca, fatum, fortunam; omnia eiusdem dei nomina sunt varie utentis sua potestate’ Ben. iv 8, 3.

[74] ‘fortuna ceteros casus rariores habet, primum ab inanimis procellas, tempestates, naufragia, ruinas, incendia; deinde a bestiis ictus, morsus, impetus, etc.’ Cic. Off. ii 6, 19; ‘saepe ... optimorum virorum segetem grando percussit. fert sortem suam quisque’ Sen. Ben. ii 28, 3.

[75] So Fortune is technically defined as ‘a cause not discerned by human reason’; οἱ Στωϊκοὶ [τὴν τύχην] αἰτίαν ἄδηλον ἀνθρωπίνῳ λογισμῷ Aët. plac. i 29, 7.

[76] ‘in regnum Fortunae et quidem durum atque invictum pervenimus, illius arbitrio digna atque indigna passuri’ Sen. Dial. vi 10, 6; ‘hanc imaginem animo tuo propone, ludos facere fortunam’ Ep. 74, 7.

[77] ‘Chrysippus aestuans laboransque quonam pacto explicet et fato omnia fieri et esse aliquid in nobis, intricatur hoc modo’ Gellius N. A. vii 2, 15.

[78] ἐκεῖνο γὰρ δὴ τὸ καταγελαστότατον ἁπάντων, τὸ μίγμα καὶ ἡ σύνοδος τοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τι εἶναι, καὶ εἱρμὸν (seriem causarum) οὐδὲν ἧττον εἶναι Oenom. apud Euseb. pr. ev. vi p. 258 (Arnim ii 978); ‘manente fato aliquid est in hominis arbitrio’ Sen. N. Q. ii 38, 3.

[78a] ‘ubi igitur virtus, si nihil situm est in nobis ipsis?’ Cic. Ac. ii 12, 39.

[79] ‘mihi quidem videtur, cum duae sententiae fuissent veterum philosophorum, una eorum qui censerent omnia ita fato fieri ut id fatum vim necessitatis adferret ... altera eorum quibus viderentur sine ullo fato esse animorum motus voluntarii, Chrysippus tanquam arbiter honorarius medium ferire voluisse, sed adplicat se ad eos potius, qui necessitate motus animorum liberatos volunt’ Cic. de Fato 17, 39.