33 Arrian’s Epictetus (2)

Who, then, fitted this to that and that to this? Who fitted the sword to the sheath and the sheath to the sword? No one? Yet from the very construction of finished objects we are accustomed to declare that they must be the work of some craftsman, not things constructed at random. Does each of these reveal its craftsman, while visible things, sight, and light do not? And male and female, the desire of each for union, and ⟨the⟩ capacity to use the organs provided for it—do these too fail to reveal the craftsman?

Let those things stand. What of the mind’s particular construction? Through it we do not merely receive impressions from sensible objects when we encounter them: we also apprehend something, subtract, add, ⟨and combine⟩ particular things through them; and, by Zeus, we pass from some things to others related to them. Are even these insufficient to move people and turn them toward acknowledging the craftsman? Then let them explain to us what produces each of these things, or how things so wonderful and skillfully formed can arise at random and spontaneously.⁸¹

34 ⟨The same author⟩: Divine oversight (1)

Someone asked how a person could be persuaded that God observes every action he performs. “Do you not think,” he replied, “that all things form a unity?” “I do,” the man said. “And do you not think that earthly things respond in sympathy to heavenly things?” “I do.”

“How else do these things happen in such order, as though by God’s command? When he tells plants to flower, they flower; to sprout, they sprout; to bear fruit, they bear it; to ripen it, they ripen it; to shed it, ⟨they shed it⟩; to lose their leaves, ⟨they lose them⟩; to draw into themselves and remain quietly at rest, they remain and rest.⁸²

34 ⟨The same author⟩ (2)

“How else do we see such variation and changes to opposite conditions in earthly things corresponding to the moon’s waxing and waning and the sun’s approach and withdrawal? If plants and our bodies are bound so closely to the whole and affected along with it, are not our souls much more so? If our souls are thus bound and joined to God, being parts and portions of him, does God fail to perceive every movement of theirs, as something belonging to him and sharing his nature?⁸³

“You yourself can reflect on divine government and on each divine thing, and also on human affairs. You can at the same time be moved by countless things in perception and in thought, assenting to some, rejecting others, or withholding judgment.

34 ⟨The same author⟩ (3)

“You preserve in your soul so many impressions from so many varied things; moved by them, you arrive at conceptions resembling the things that first made those impressions. You retain one skill after another and memories of countless things. Yet God cannot observe everything, be present with everything, and receive some communication from everything?

“The sun can illuminate so great a portion of the universe, leaving only a little unlit—what is covered by the shadow the earth casts. But the one who made and guides the sun itself, a small part of him in comparison with the whole: is he unable to perceive everything?”

35 Iamblichus, from the letter to Poemenius

The gods, holding fate together, continually set it right. Their correction sometimes lessens evils, sometimes brings relief, and at times even removes them. Fate is thereby adorned with good things; thus ordered, it does not reveal itself in its entirety to the disorderly nature of coming-to-be.

Destiny, then, is preserved all the more through this correction. Its tendency to deviate remains held in check by the gods’ undeviating goodness, which does not allow it to slip into disorderly disharmony. This being so, the good character of providence, the soul’s self-determination, and all the finest things are preserved, existing together with the will of the gods.⁸⁴

36 Aristotle, from the letter to Alexander (1)

In general, what a helmsman is in a ship, a charioteer in a chariot, a leader in a chorus, [law in a city,] and a commander in an army, God is in the cosmos—with this difference: for them, ruling is wearisome, full of movement and anxiety; for him it is painless and effortless, since he is free from every bodily weakness. ⟨For⟩ established in unmoving power, he moves and guides everything wherever and however he wishes, in diverse forms and natures.⁸⁵

So too the law of a city, itself unmoving in the souls of those who live by it, orders all the affairs of the constitution.

36 Aristotle, from the letter to Alexander (2)

In obedience to it, magistrates go to their offices, judicial magistrates to their proper courts, and councilors and members of the assembly to the appropriate meetings. One man goes to the prytaneum to dine; ⟨another goes before the judges to defend himself, another to prison to die⟩. There are also lawful public banquets and annual festivals, sacrifices to gods, rites for heroes, and libations for the dead.

These varied activities, carried out under one ordinance or lawful authority, bear out the poet’s saying:

“⟨And⟩ the city is filled at once with incense, and at once with paeans and lamentations.”⁸⁶

36 Aristotle, from the letter to Alexander (3)

We must think in the same way of the greater city, by which I mean the cosmos. For us God is an evenly balanced law, admitting neither correction nor alteration, superior and more secure, I think, than the laws inscribed on tablets. Under his unmoving and harmonious rule, the entire order of heaven and earth is governed through him, distributed throughout all natures by their proper seeds into plants and animals according to their kinds and species.

For vines, palms, and persea trees,

“sweet fig trees and olives,”

as the poet says, and trees that bear no fruit but serve other uses—planes, pines, and box trees, [and branches]

“alder, poplar, and fragrant cypress”—⁸⁷

36 Aristotle, from the letter to Alexander (4)

and those that bear sweet seasonal fruit which is otherwise hard to store,

“pear trees, pomegranates, and apple trees with splendid fruit,”

and animals, wild and tame, those that feed in air, on earth, and ⟨in⟩ water—all come into being, flourish, and perish in obedience to God’s ordinance. For, as Heraclitus says, “Every creeping thing is driven by a blow.”⁸⁸

Though one, he has many names, receiving them from all the changes he himself brings about. We call him both Zēna and Dia, using the names together as though saying “through whom we live.” He is called the child of Kronos and of Chronos, passing from one boundless age into another. He is called god of lightning and thunder, ⟨and of clear skies⟩ and of aether, of the thunderbolt and of rain, from rains, thunderbolts, and the other phenomena.⁸⁹

36 Aristotle, from the letter to Alexander (5)

He is also named Fruit-bringer from fruits and Protector of the City from the city; Patron of Birth, of Kindred, of the Household Enclosure, and of Ancestral Life, from his relation to these things. He is Patron of Companionship, Friendship, and Guests; also God of Armies and Bearer of Trophies, Purifier and Avenger of Blood, Protector of Suppliants and Gracious One, as the poets say. He is truly Savior and Liberator [so to speak]. To say it all, he is Heavenly and Earthly, bearing names from every nature and fortune, since he himself is the cause of all.⁹⁰

37 Xenophon, Memorabilia IV (1)

“Tell me, Euthydemus,” he said, “has it ever occurred to you to consider how carefully the gods have provided what human beings need?” “No, by Zeus, it has not occurred to me.” “But you know, surely, that first of all we need light, which the gods provide us?” “Indeed: without it we should be like blind people, for all the good our eyes would do us.” “And since we also need rest, they provide night, the finest opportunity for rest.” “Certainly; that too deserves gratitude.”⁹¹

“Then again, the bright sun makes clear to us the times of day and everything else, whereas night, being dark, is less clear. So they have made stars appear at night, which show us its divisions and enable us to do many things we need to do.” “That is so.” “Moreover, the moon makes clear to us not only the divisions of the night but also those of the month.” “Most certainly.”