9781945186240

That’s what nature does. Nature—through whom all things happen as
they should, and have happened forever in just the same way, and will
continue to, one way or another, endlessly.
That things happen for the worst and always will, that the gods have no
power to regulate them, and the world is condemned to never-ending evil—
how can you say that?
36. Disgust at what things are made of: Liquid, dust, bones, filth. Or
marble as hardened dirt, gold and silver as residues, clothes as hair, purple
dye as shellfish blood. And all the rest.
And the same with our living breath—transformed from one thing to
another.
37. Enough of this wretched, whining monkey life.
What’s the matter? Is any of this new? What is it you find surprising?
The purpose? Look at it.
The material? Look at that.
That’s all there is.
And the gods? Well, you could try being simpler, gentler. Even now.
A hundred years or three. . . . No difference.
38. If they’ve injured you, then they’re the ones who suffer for it.
But have they?
39. Either all things spring from one intelligent source and form a single
body (and the part should accept the actions of the whole) or there are only
atoms, joining and splitting forever, and nothing else.
So why feel anxiety?
Say to your mind: Are you dead? damaged? brutal? dishonest?
Are you one of the herd? or grazing like one?
40. Either the gods have power or they don’t. If they don’t, why pray? If
they do, then why not pray for something else instead of for things to
happen or not to happen? Pray not to feel fear. Or desire, or grief. If the
gods can do anything, they can surely do that for us.
—But those are things the gods left up to me.
Then isn’t it better to do what’s up to you—like a free man—than to be
passively controlled by what isn’t, like a slave or beggar? And what makes