Moral essays. With an English translation by J.W. Basore

ON PROVIDENCE, it. 6-10men God has the mind of a_^th£r, he cherishes forthem a manly love, and he says, " Let them beharassed by toil, by suffering, by losses, in order thatthey may gather true strength." Bodies gro-vvTi fatthrough sloth are weak, and not only laboiu-, buteven movement and their very weight cause themto break do-ft-n. Unimpaired prosperity cannot withstanda single blow ; but he who has struggledconstantly %vith his ills becomes hardened throughsuffering, and pelds to no misfortune ; nay, even ifhe falls, he still fights upon his knees. Do you wonderif that God, who most dearly loves the good, whowishes them to become supremely good and \artuous,allots to them a fortune that will make them struggle ?For my part, I do not wonder if sometimes the godsarp mnT-Pfl hy th e Hpsjre to bchold great men WTCstle•^th some calamity . We men at times are stirredwith pleasure if a youth of steady courage meetswith his spear an onrushing wild beast, if unterrifiedhe sustains the charge of a Hon. And the morehonourable the youth who does this, the more pleasingthis spectacle becomes. But these are not thethings to draw down the gaze of the gods upon us—they are childish, the pastimes of man's frivolity.But lo ! here is a spectacle worthy of the regard ofGod as he contemplates his works ; lo ! here a contestworthy of God,—a brave man matched againstill-fortune, and doubly so if his also was the challenge.I do not know, I say, what nobler sight the Lordof Heaven could find on earth, should he wish totiurn his attention there, than the spectacle of Cato,after his cause had already been shattered morethan once, nevertheless standing erect amid theruins of the commonwealth. " Although," said he,11