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

BOOK I. vi.35-43then ?Ought lie to have prepared these forhimself, and sought to bring a lion into his owncountry from somewhere or other, and a boar, and ahydra? This would have been folly and madness.But since they did exist and were found in theworld, they were serviceable as a means of revealingand exercising our Heracles.Come then, do you also, now that you are awareof these things, contemplate the faculties which youhave, and, after "contemplating, say : Bring now,O Zeus, what difficulty Thou wilt ;for I have anequipment given to me by Thee, and resourceswherewith to distinguish myself by making use ofthe things that come to pass/* But no, yousittrembling for fear something will happen, andlamenting, and grieving, and groaning about otherthings that are happening. And then you blamethe gods ! For what else can be the consequenceof so ignoble a spirit but sheer impiety ? And yetGod has not merely given us these faculties, toenable us to bear all that happens without beingdegraded or crushed thereby, but as became a goodking and in very truth a father He has given themto us free from all restraint, compulsion, hindrance ;He has put the whole matter under our controlwithout reserving even for Himself any power toprevent or hinder. Although you have these facultiesfree and entirely your own, you do not usethem, nor do you realize what gifts you have received,and from whom, but you sit sorrowing and groaning,some of you blinded toward the giver himself andnot even acknowledging your benefactor, and others,such is their ignoble spirit turning aside tofault-finding and complaints against God. And yet,49