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

BOOK II. xiv. 25~xv. ithen, is the universe/' they ask,, fe aiid who governsit ? No one ? Yet how can it be that, while it isimpossible for a city or a household to remain evena very short time without someone to govern andcare for it., nevertheless this great and beautifulstructure should be kept in such orderly arrangementby sheer accident and chance? There mustbe, therefore, One who governsit. What kind ofa being is He, and how does He govern it? Andwhat are we, who have been created by Him, andfor what purpose were we created? Do we, then,really have some contact and relation with Himor none at all " ? That is the way these few areaffected ;and thenceforward they have leisure forthis one thing only to study well the "fair"of life before they leave it. With what result,then? They are laughed to scorn by the crowd,quite as in the real fair the mere spectatorsare laughed at by the traffickers ; yes, and if thecattle themselves had any comprehension likeours of what was going on, they too would laugh atthose Avho had wonder and admiration for anythingbut their fodder !CHAPTER XVTo /how who cling obstinatelyto t/w judgementswhich tlmj have once,formedSOME men, when they hear the following precepts:That one ought to be steadfast, and that the moralpurpose is naturally free and not subject to compulsion,while everything else is liable to inter-3*5