Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

The Delay of the
Deity
life with shame and confusion. For as Simonides
jestingly said, that he always
found the chest he
kept for money full and the one he kept for gratitude
empty; so wicked men. when they examine their
own evil hearts, discover that for the sake of a pleas
ure which directly proves to be an empty one, they
find them void of hope but full of sorrows and pain,
unpleasant memories, and anxiety for the future,
but big with distrust of the present. Just as we
hear Ino crying out in the theater when rilled
with regret for what she had done, Dear women,
how can I again dwell in the house of Athamas?
Would that I had done none of the deeds I commit
ted! So the soul of every villain ought
to consider
well and reflect how it may rid itself of the memory
of its iniquities and exorcise a bad conscience, under
go a process of purification and live life over again.
When the bad is deliberately preferred,
it shows a
lack of confidence and firmness and strength and
stability unless, forsooth, we admit that evil-doers
are a class of sages. Wherever there exists an un
controllable love of money and pleasure, and insati
able avarice coupled with malice or a bad character,
there you will find also, it you look closely, latent
superstitions and an aversion to labor and fear of
death and sudden gusts of passion and an eagerness
to be talked about joined to a penchant for
boasting.
Such men fear those who censure them and are afraid
of those who praise them as persons who have been
wronged by deception: they are particularly hostile
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