Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
The Delay <strong>of</strong> the Deity<br />
<strong>and</strong> admire them as fortunate mortals, until they<br />
are<br />
seen goaded <strong>and</strong> scourged, while the fire breaks forth<br />
from their splendid <strong>and</strong> costly attire. For many <strong>of</strong><br />
the wicked are the owners <strong>of</strong> fine mansions, <strong>and</strong>, as<br />
they hold magistracies <strong>and</strong> other responsible posi<br />
tions, no one is aware that they are undergoing pun<br />
ishment until they are put to death or hurled from<br />
rocks. This, one ought not to call punishment, but<br />
the consummation <strong>and</strong> fulfilment <strong>of</strong> punishment.<br />
For as Herodicus <strong>of</strong> Selymbria, who had been at<br />
tacked by consumption, an incurable disease, was the<br />
first to combine gymnastics with the healing art, <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> whom Plato says, that (in so doing)<br />
he protracted<br />
his own death, <strong>and</strong> that <strong>of</strong> all \vho were similarly<br />
diseased; so malefactors who are seen to have escaped<br />
immediate punishment, expiate their crimes by a<br />
longer, not by a shorter penalty; nor after a longer<br />
time but during a longer time; they are not punished<br />
after they have grown old, but they grow old during<br />
their punishment. And I say a long time with refer<br />
ence to ourselves, for to the gods the span <strong>of</strong> human<br />
life is nothing, now, but not thirty years ago is the<br />
same as to say, that in the evening, but not in the<br />
morning, the malefactor, is to be tortured or hanged,<br />
in this life just as in<br />
especially since man is shut up<br />
a prison from which there is no migration to<br />
another<br />
place or escape, but which in the meanwhile allows<br />
time for many enjoyments <strong>and</strong> the transaction <strong>of</strong><br />
business, the bestowing <strong>and</strong> receiving <strong>of</strong> honors <strong>and</strong><br />
favors, <strong>and</strong> for diversions; just as persons in prison<br />
178