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 />
You<br />
"<br />
"<br />
"<br />
"<br />
1<br />
"<br />
The Delay <strong>of</strong> the Deity<br />
himself received adequate recognition <strong>and</strong> requital."<br />
have recalled to my mind a noble contest," he<br />
.said,<br />
<strong>and</strong> one well worthy <strong>of</strong> a philosopher."<br />
tract, then, my friend," said I, this serious charge,<br />
ind do not take it ill if the descendants <strong>of</strong> wicked or<br />
base men are sometimes punished: or cease<br />
Re<br />
to speak<br />
with approval <strong>of</strong> the honors conferred upon those<br />
who are <strong>of</strong> noble ancestry. For it is incumbent<br />
upon us. if we are to requite to their descendants,<br />
the services <strong>of</strong> their forefathers, as a matter <strong>of</strong> con<br />
sistency not to think that punishment ought to<br />
cease or be discontinued at once after the crime,<br />
but that it<br />
ought to run along with it <strong>and</strong> render a<br />
recompense corresponding to He who it.<br />
is pleased<br />
to see the family Kimon honored at Athens, but<br />
feels sore <strong>and</strong> aggrieved when the descendants <strong>of</strong><br />
Lachares or Aristo are expelled, is very weak <strong>and</strong> in<br />
consistent; or rather, he is captious <strong>and</strong> hypercritical<br />
as regards the deity: for he finds fault if the gr<strong>and</strong><br />
children <strong>of</strong> a wicked <strong>and</strong> unjust man seem to meet<br />
with good fortune, <strong>and</strong> he finds fault again,<br />
if the<br />
<strong>of</strong>fspring <strong>of</strong> the vicious are cut <strong>of</strong>f <strong>and</strong> blotted out.<br />
He blames God equally whether the children <strong>of</strong> a<br />
good man or a bad man fare ill."<br />
14.<br />
Let these things,"<br />
I said,<br />
serve you as a sort<br />
<strong>of</strong> bulwark against those over hasty <strong>and</strong> carping critics;<br />
but let us take up again,<br />
as one may say, the begin<br />
ning <strong>of</strong> the thread <strong>of</strong> this obscure problem concerning<br />
the Deity, with its many windings <strong>and</strong> ramifications,<br />
<strong>and</strong> let us follow them up with care but without fear,<br />
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