§8.7.1Ἀρκεῖται πᾶσα φύσις ἑαυτῇ εὐοδούσῃ, φύσις δὲ λογικὴ εὐοδεῖ ἐν μὲν φαντασίαις μήτε ψευδεῖ μήτε ἀδήλῳ συγκατατιθεμένη, τὰς ὁρμὰς δὲ ἐπὶ τὰ κοινωνικὰ ἔργα μόνα ἀπευθύνουσα, τὰς ὀρέξεις δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐκκλίσεις τῶν ἐφ’ ἡμῖν μόνων πεποιημένη, τὸ δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς κοινῆς φύσεως ἀπονεμόμενον πᾶν ἀσπαζομένη·
Every nature is satisfied with itself when it goes well; and a rational nature goes well when, in its impressions, it assents to nothing false or obscure, when it directs its impulses only to social actions, when it confines its desires and aversions only to things in our power, and when it welcomes everything assigned to it by the common nature.
μέρος γὰρ αὐτῆς ἐστιν ὡς ἡ τοῦ φύλλου φύσις τῆς τοῦ φυτοῦ φύσεως·
For it is a part of it, just as the nature of a leaf is a part of the nature of a plant.
πλὴν ὅτι ἐκεῖ μὲν ἡ τοῦ φύλλου φύσις μέρος ἐστὶ φύσεως καὶ ἀναισθήτου καὶ ἀλόγου καὶ ἐμποδίζεσθαι δυναμένης, ἡ δὲ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσις μέρος ἐστὶν ἀνεμποδίστου φύσεως καὶ νοερᾶς καὶ δικαίας, εἴγε ἴσους καὶ κατ’ ἀξίαν τοὺς μερισμοὺς χρόνων, οὐσίας, αἰτίου, ἐνεργείας, συμβάσεως ἑκάστοις ποιεῖται.
Except that in the case of the leaf, its nature is a part of a nature both insensible and irrational and capable of being impeded; whereas the nature of man is a part of a nature unimpeded, intellectual, and just, if indeed it makes equal and according to worth the distributions of times, substance, cause, activity, and circumstance to each.
σκόπει δέ, μὴ εἰ τὸ ἓν πρὸς τὸ ἓν ἴσον εὑρήσεις ἐπὶ παντός, ἀλλὰ εἰ συλλήβδην τὰ πάντα τοῦδε πρὸς ἀθρόα τὰ τοῦ ἑτέρου.
But consider, not whether you will find each single thing equal to each single thing in every case, but whether the sum of all things of the one is equal to the collective things of the other.