Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

De Providentia
may gain real strength."
Animals that are being
fattened grow languid by their inactivity, and by the
weight of their own bodies become incapable not only
of work, but of movement. Unalloyed felicity cannot
withstand any shock, but a constant struggle against
obstacles hardens a man against injuries, and he does
not succumb to any disaster, for even if he falls, he
fights on his knees.
5. Are you surprised
if God, who is a most de
voted friend of the good, and who wishes them to
attain the highest degree of
perfection, assigns them
a place in which they are to be disciplined? Verily,
I am not surprised that sometimes a desire seizes the
the gods to behold great men struggling against some
misfortune. To us mortals it at times affords pleas
ure to see a courageous youth await with the hunting
spear, the onset of some wild beast, or if with unblanched
cheek he thrusts back the attack of a lion;
and the spectacle is agreeable in proportion to the
rank of him who exhibits it.
6. These are not the sights that attract the at
tention of the gods, but childish pastimes and the
pleasures
of men who have no serious aims. Behold
a spectacle worthy of a god who is intensely inter
ested in his work; behold a pair of champions worthy
of god, a brave man pitted
against adverse fortune,
especially if he himself be the challenging party.
I do not see, I say, what more agreeable sight on
earth Jupiter can look upon,
if he turns his attention
thither, than to behold Cato, after his party had been
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