Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

DE PROVIDENTIA SIVE QUARE ALIQUA IN-
COMMODA BONIS VIRIS ACCIDANT
CUM PROVIDENTIA SIT.
NOTE: This monograph is addressed to the same Lucilius,
procurator of Sicily, to whom Seneca also dedicates his letters
and his Problems in Physics. The date of composition is not
known, but it
probably belongs to the later years of the
author s life. The opening sentences seem to make it a part of
a larger work on ethics, or rather of a theodicy, which was either
never completed or has not come down to us. This is a serious
loss both to us and to Seneca: to us, because such a work would
doubtless have placed before us a complete theory of human
conduct as conceived by a man who was thoroughly conver
sant with the motives that dominate men; to Seneca, because
it would in all probability have explained if not justified some of
the inconsistencies that have so sadly marred his career. In
deed the fundamental proposition of the essay is inconsistent,
since the conclusion does not follow from the premises. For if
the patient endurance of tribulation is the supreme test of a
good man, how is he justified in avoiding that test, as our author
proposes, by taking hie own life?
I.
You have asked me, Lucilius, why it is, if the
world is governed by a Providence, that so many mis
fortunes befall good men. To this an answer would
more properly be given in a work in which I should
undertake to prove that a Providence presides over
the affairs of men, and that God dwells among us.
But since you deem it best to take a small portion of
the whole subject, and to settle this single disputed
question, the main proposition meanwhile being left
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