Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

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