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

;ON PROVIDENCE, v. 7-9bv a long sequence of events. Therefore everythingsliould be endured with fortitude, since things donot, as we suppose, simply happen—they all come.Long ago it was determined what would make yourejoice, what would make you weep, and althoughthe hves of individuals seem to be marked by greatdissimilarity, yet is the end one—we receive whatis perishable and shall ourselves perish. Why,therefore, do we chafe ? why complain ? For thiswere we born.is her own, as she pleases ; let us be cheerful andLet Nature deal with matter, whichfbrave in the face of everything, reflecting that it isnothing of our own that perishes.What, then, is the part of a good man ? To offerhimself to Fate. It is a great consolation that it istogether with the universe we are swept alongwhatever it is that has ordained us so to hve, so todie, bv the same necessity it binds also the gods.One unchangeable course bears along the affairs of 'men and gods alike. Although the great creatorand ruler of the universe himself WTote the decreesof Fate, yet he follows them. He obeys for ever, he 'decreed but once. " Why, however," do you ask," was God so unjust in his allotment of destiny asto assign to good men poverty, wounds, and painfuldeath? " It is impossible for the moulder to altermatter ; to this law it has submitted. Certainqualities cannot be separated from certain others ;they cling together, are indivisible. Natures thatare listless, that are prone to sleep, or to a kind ofwakefulness that closely resembles sleep, are composedof sluggish elements. It takes sterner stuflF tomake a man who deserves to be mentioned >vithconsideration. His course will not be the level way ;39