Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
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"<br />
We<br />
The Delay <strong>of</strong> the Deity<br />
against me for killing my<br />
the remark to the<br />
father ? The astonished<br />
company reported king, <strong>and</strong> after<br />
the case had been investigated Bessus received his<br />
just deserts.<br />
9. say these things,"<br />
I continued,<br />
"<br />
on<br />
the<br />
assumption that there is a postponement <strong>of</strong> punish<br />
ment for the wicked; on the other h<strong>and</strong>, it is proper<br />
to hear what Hesiod says, who does not think with<br />
Plato that punishment is a pain which follows injus<br />
tice, but that it is something <strong>of</strong> equal age with it; that<br />
it<br />
springs from the same root <strong>and</strong> place, for he says,<br />
it,<br />
Evil counsel is most hurtful to him who has given<br />
<strong>and</strong>,<br />
He who lays plots for another, lays a plot against<br />
himself.<br />
The cantharis, you know, is said to<br />
contain within<br />
itself the antidote (for the pain it inflicts), <strong>and</strong> vil<br />
lainy, by engendering within itself both pain <strong>and</strong><br />
punishment, pays the penalty for evil-doing, not at a<br />
subsequent time, but in the outrage itself. Every<br />
malefactor who is punished by the infliction <strong>of</strong> pain<br />
on his body bears his own cross, <strong>and</strong> vice wreaks upon<br />
itself, out <strong>of</strong> itself, its own vengeance, because it is in<br />
a sense a creator <strong>of</strong> the woes <strong>of</strong> life that it<br />
brings into<br />
existence, together with the accompanying disgrace,<br />
many sorrows, fears <strong>and</strong> violent passions <strong>and</strong> regrets<br />
<strong>and</strong> unceasing restlessness.<br />
Some people are in no<br />
wise different from children, who, on seeing male<br />
factors in the theaters <strong>of</strong>ten clad in gilded <strong>and</strong> purple<br />
garments, crowned <strong>and</strong> dancing about, are<br />
177<br />
delighted