Volume 1 - Discourses - Books I - II - College of Stoic Philosophers

BOOK I. xvii. 25-xvni. 2Once more, then,, it is the decision of jour own willwhich compelled you,, that is, moral purpose compelledmoral purpose. For if God had so constructedthat part of His own being which He has takenfrom Himself and bestowed upon us, that it couldbe subjected to hindrance or constrainteither fromHimself or from some other, He were no longerGod, nor would He be caring for us as He ought.This is what I find/' says the diviner,, "in the sacrifice.These are the signs vouchsafed you. If youwill, you are free if ; you will, you will not have toblame anyone, or complain against anyone ; everythingwill be in accordance with what is not merelyyour own will, but at the same time the will of God."This is the prophecy for the sake of which I go tothis diviner in other words, the philosopher, notadmiring him because of his interpretation, butrather the interpretation which he gives.CHAPTER XVIIIThat we ought not to be angry with the erringIF what the philosophers1 say is true, that in allmen thought and action start from a singlesource,namely feeling as in the case of assent the feelingthat a thing is so, and in the case of dissent thefeeling that it is not so, yes, and, by Zeus, in the case ofsuspended judgement the feeling that it is uncertain,so also in the case of impulse towards a thing, thefeeling that it is expedient for me and that it is impossibleto judge one thing expedient and yet desireanother, and again, to judge one thing fitting, andyet be impelled to another if all this be true ?