§1.1Quaesisti a me, Lucili, quid ita, si providentia mundus regeretur, multa bonis viris mala acciderent.
You have asked me, Lucilius, why it is that, if the world is ruled by providence, so many evils befall good men.
Hoc commodius in contextu operis redderetur, cum praeesse universis providentiam probaremus et interesse nobis deum; sed quoniam a toto particulam revelli placet et unam contradictionem manente lite integra solvere, faciam rem non difficilem, causam deorum agam.
This would be more conveniently answered in the context of a whole work, when we were proving that providence presides over the universe and that God takes an interest in us; but since you wish a small part to be torn from the whole and a single objection to be resolved while the main lawsuit remains undecided, I will do a thing that is not difficult: I will plead the cause of the gods.
§1.2Supervacuum est in praesentia ostendere non sine aliquo custode tantum opus stare nec hunc siderum coetum discursumque fortuiti impetus esse, et quae casus incitat saepe turbari et cito arietare, hanc inoffensam velocitatem procedere aeternae legis imperio tantum rerum terra marique gestantem, tantum clarissimorum luminum et ex disposito relucentium; non esse materiae errantis hunc ordinem nec quae temere coierunt tanta arte pendere, ut terrarum gravissimum pondus sedeat immotum et circa se properantis caeli fugam spectet, ut infusa vallibus maria molliant terras nec ullum incrementum fluminum sentiant, ut ex minimis seminibus nascantur ingentia.
It is superfluous for the present to show that so great a work does not stand without some guardian, and that this gathering and movement of the stars is not the result of a chance impulse, and that while things driven by chance are often thrown into disorder and quickly collide, this unimpeded speed proceeds by the command of an eternal law, carrying so many things on land and sea, so many most brilliant lights shining according to arrangement; and that this order does not belong to wandering matter, nor do things that have come together at random hang suspended with such skill that the heaviest weight of the earth sits motionless and watches the flight of the heaven rushing around it, that the seas poured into the valleys soften the earth and feel no increase from the rivers, and that from the smallest seeds giant things are born.
§1.3Ne illa quidem quae videntur confusa et incerta, pluvias dico nubesque et elisorum fulminum iactus et incendia ruptis montium verticibus effusa, tremores labantis soli aliaque quae tumultuosa pars rerum circa terras movet, sine ratione, quamvis subita sint, accidunt, sed suas et illa causas habent non minus quam quae alienis locis conspecta miraculo sunt, ut in mediis fluctibus calentes aquae et nova insularum in vasto exsilientium mari spatia.
Indeed, not even those things which seem confused and uncertain—I mean rains and clouds, the hurling of struck thunderbolts and fires poured out from the broken peaks of mountains, tremors of the shaking earth and other things which the turbulent part of nature stirs up around the earth—happen without a reason, sudden though they may be; but they too have their own causes, no less than those which, being seen in strange places, are regarded as wonders, such as warm waters in the midst of waves and new spaces of islands springing up in the vast sea.
§1.4Iam vero si quis observaverit nudari litora pelago in se recedente eademque intra exiguum tempus operiri, credet caeca quadam volutatione modo contrahi undas et introrsum agi, modo erumpere et magno cursu repetere sedem suam, cum interim illae portionibus crescunt et ad horam ac diem subeunt ampliores minoresque, prout illas lunare sidus elicuit, ad cuius arbitrium oceanus exundat.
Now indeed, if anyone observes that shores are laid bare as the sea retreats into itself, and that the same shores are covered within a short time, he will believe that by some blind turning the waves are now contracted and driven inward, now break out and seek their home again with a great rush, whereas in the meantime they grow by degrees and rise at their appointed hour and day, larger or smaller, according as the lunar star has drawn them out, at whose pleasure the ocean overflows.
Suo ista tempori reserventur, eo quidem magis quod tu non dubitas de providentia sed querens.
Let those things be reserved for their own proper time, all the more indeed because you do not doubt providence, but are complaining.
§1.5In gratiam te reducam cum diis adversus optimos optimis.
I will reconcile you with the gods, who are best to the best men.
Neque enim rerum natura patitur ut umquam bona bonis noceant; inter bonos viros ac deos amicitia est conciliante virtute.
For nature does not allow good things ever to harm good men; between good men and the gods there is a friendship, which virtue brings about.
Amicitiam dico? Immo etiam necessitudo et similitudo, quoniam quidem bonus tempore tantum a deo differt, discipulus eius aemulatorque et vera progenies, quam parens ille magnificus, virtutum non lenis exactor, sicut severi patres, durius educat.
Did I say friendship? Nay, rather a necessity and a likeness, since indeed a good man differs from God only in time, being his disciple and imitator and true offspring, whom that magnificent parent, no gentle exacter of virtues, brings up more harshly, just like strict fathers.
§1.6Itaque cum videris bonos viros acceptosque diis laborare, sudare, per arduum escendere, malos autem lascivire et voluptatibus fluere, cogita filiorum nos modestia delectari, vernularum licentia, illos disciplina tristiori contineri, horum ali audaciam.
Therefore, when you see good men, acceptable to the gods, toiling, sweating, climbing up steep paths, while the wicked run riot and overflow with pleasures, reflect that we are pleased by the modesty of our sons, but by the license of our home-born slaves, and that the former are held in check by a stricter discipline, while the audacity of the latter is nourished.
Idem tibi de deo liqueat.
Let the same thing be clear to you concerning God.
Bonum virum in deliciis non habet, experitur, indurat, sibi illum parat.
He does not keep a good man in luxury; he tests him, hardens him, and prepares him for himself.