Suppose a banquet of very varied abundance, prepared for a certain number of guests, and let the chair be taken by one of their number who is gifted to know accurately the peculiarities of constitution in each of them, and what food is best adapted to each temperament, what is harmful and unsuitable; in addition to this let him be entrusted with a sort of absolute authority over them, whether to allow as he pleases so and so to remain at the board or to expel so and so, and to take every precaution that each should address himself to the viands most suited to his constitution, so that the invalid should not kill himself by adding the fuel of what he was eating to his ailment, while the guest in robuster health should not make himself ill with things not good for him32    Read with L. Sifanus, μὴ καταλλήλῳ τροφῇ. and fall into discomfort from over-feeding33    εἰς πληθωρικὴν ἀηδίαν ἐκπίπτων.. Suppose, amongst these, one of those inclined to drink is conducted out in the middle of the banquet or even at the very beginning of it; or let him remain to the very end, it all depending on the way that the president can secure that perfect order shall prevail, if possible, at the board throughout, and that the evil sights of surfeiting, tippling, and tipsiness shall be absent. It is just so, then, as when that individual is not very pleased at being torn away from all the savoury dainties and deprived of his favourite liquors, but is inclined to charge the president with want of justice and judgment, as having turned him away from the feast for envy, and not for any forethought for him; but if he were to catch a sight of those who were already beginning to misbehave themselves, from the long continuance of their drinking, in the way of vomitings and putting their heads on the table and unseemly talk, he would perhaps feel grateful to him for having removed him, before he got into such a condition, from a deep debauch. If our illustration34    θεώρημα. is understood, we can easily apply the rule which it contains to the question before us. What, then, was that question? Why does God, when fathers endeavour their utmost to preserve a successor to their line, often let the son and heir be snatched away in earliest infancy35    Reading ἐν τῷ ἀτέλει τῆς ἡλικίας.? To those who ask this, we shall reply with the illustration of the banquet; namely, that Life’s board is as it were crowded with a vast abundance and variety of dainties; and it must, please, be noticed that, true to the practice of gastronomy, all its dishes are not sweetened with the honey of enjoyment, but in some cases an existence has a taste of some especially harsh mischances36    Reading συμπτωμάτων (for συμπομάτων. Morell). given to it: just as experts in the arts of catering desire how they may excite the appetites of the guests with sharp, or briny, or astringent dishes. Life, I say, is not in all its circumstances as sweet as honey; there are circumstances in it in which mere brine is the only relish, or into which an astringent, or vinegary, or sharp pungent flavour has so insinuated itself, that the rich sauce becomes very difficult to taste: the cups of Temptation, too, are filled with all sorts of beverages; some by the error of pride37    τύφου (τοῦ στύφου, Paris Edit. i.e. “of their astringency”) produce the vice of inflated vanity; others lure on those who drain them to some deed of rashness; whilst in other cases they excite a vomiting in which all the ill-gotten acquisitions of years are with shame surrendered38    διὰ τῆς αἰσχρᾶς ἀποτίσεως τὸν ἔμετον ἀνεκίνησαν. Therefore, to prevent one who has indulged in the carousals to an improper extent from lingering over so profusely furnished a table, he is early taken from the number of the banqueters, and thereby secures an escape out of those evils which unmeasured indulgence procures for gluttons. This is that achievement of a perfect Providence which I spoke of; namely, not only to heal evils that have been committed, but also to forestall them before they have been committed; and this, we suspect, is the cause of the deaths of new-born infants. He Who does all things upon a Plan withdraws the materials for evil in His love to the individual, and, to a character whose marks His Foreknowledge has read, grants no time to display by a pre-eminence in actual vice what it is when its propensity to evil gets free play. Often, too, the Arranger of this Feast of Life exposes by such-like dispensations the cunning device of the “constraining cause” of money-loving39    τὴν σεσοφισμένην τῆς φιλαργυρίας ἀνάγκην., so that this vice comes to the light bared of all specious pretexts, and no longer obscured by any misleading screen40    πεπλανημένῳ. For most declare that they give play41    ἐπιπλατύνεσθαι to their cravings for more, in order that they may make their offspring all the richer; but that their vice belongs to their nature, and is not caused by any external necessity, is proved by that inexcusable avarice which is observed in childless persons. Many who have no heir, nor any hope of one, for the great wealth which they have laboriously gained, rear a countless brood within themselves of wants instead of children, and they are left without a channel into which to convey this incurable disease, though they cannot find an excuse in any necessity for this failing42    οὐκ ἔχοντες ποῦ τὴν ἀνάγκην τῆς ἀ& 207·ῥωστίας ταύτης ἐπανενέγκωσι. But take the case of some who, during their sojourn in life, have been fierce and domineering in disposition, slaves to every kind of lust, passionate to madness, refraining from no act even of the most desperate wickedness, robbers and murderers, traitors to their country, and, more execrable still, patricides, mother-killers, child-murderers, mad after unnatural intercourse; suppose such characters grow old in this wickedness; how, some one may ask, does this harmonize with the result of our previous investigations? If that which is taken away before its time in order that it may not continuously glut itself, according to our illustration of the banquet, with Life’s indulgences, is providentially removed from that carouse, what is the special design in so and so, who is of that disposition, being allowed to continue his revels43    ἐμπαροινεῖ to old age, steeping both himself and his boon companions in the noxious fumes of his debauchery? In fine, you will ask, wherefore does God in His Providence withdraw one from life before his character can be perfected in evil, and leave another to grow to be such a monster that it had been better for him if he had never been born? In answer to this we will give, to those who are inclined to receive it favourably, a reason such as follows: viz. that oftentimes the existence of those whose life has been a good one operates to the advantage of their offspring; and there are hundreds of passages testifying to this in the inspired Writings, which clearly teach us that the tender care shown by God to those who have deserved it is shared in by their successors, and that even to have been an obstruction, in the path to wickedness, to any one who is sure to live wickedly, is a good result44    κεφάλαιον; lit. “a sum total:” cf. below, ἐπὶ κεφαλαί& 251· συναπτέον, “we must summarize.”. But seeing that our Reason in this matter has to grope in the dark, clearly no one can complain if its conjecturing leads our mind to a variety of conclusions. Well, then, not only one might pronounce that God, in kindness to the Founders of some Family, withdraws a member of it who is going to live a bad life from that bad life, but, even if there is no antecedent such as this in the case of some early deaths, it is not unreasonable to conjecture that they would have plunged into a vicious life with a more desperate vehemence than any of those who have actually become notorious for their wickedness.

ἔστω γὰρ καθ' ὑπόθεσιν παντοδαπή τις εὐωχία προκειμένη τῷ συμποσίῳ, ἐπιστατείτω δέ τις τοιοῦτος τῶν δαιτυμόνων, οἷος ἀκριβῶς εἰδέναι τὰ τῆς ἑκάστου φύσεως ἰδιώματα καὶ τί μὲν κατάλληλον τῇ τοιαύτῃ κράσει, τί δὲ ἐπιβλαβὲς καὶ ἀνοίκειον: προσκείσθω δὲ τούτῳ καὶ αὐθεντική τις ἐξουσία τοῦ κατὰ τὸ ἴδιον βούλημα τὸν μέν τινα μετέχειν τῶν προκειμένων ἐᾶν, τὸν δὲ ἀποτρέπειν, καὶ πάντα ποιεῖν, ὡς ἂν κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κρᾶσιν ἕκαστος τῶν καταλλήλων προσάπτοιτο, ἵνα μήτε ὁ νοσώδης ἐπιτριβείη, προσθεὶς ὕλην διὰ τῶν ἐδωδίμων τῇ νόσῳ, μήτε ὁ εὐρωστότερος κάμοι, εἰς πληθωρικὴν ἀηδίαν ἐκπίπτων τῇ ἀκαταλλήλῳ τροφῇ. ἐν τούτοις εἰ μεσοῦντος τοῦ συμποσίου τις τῶν τῇ οἰνοφλυγίᾳ προσκειμένων ἐξάγεται ἢ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν τῆς μέθης ἢ μέχρι τέλους παραμένει τῷ δείπνῳ, ταῦτα τοῦ ἐπιστάτου οἰκονομοῦντος, ὡς ἂν εὐσχημονοίη διαρκῶς ἡ τράπεζα τῶν ἐκ πληθώρας καὶ μέθης καὶ παραφορᾶς κακῶν καθαρεύουσα. ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ τῆς τῶν ἡδυσμάτων κνίσης ἀποσπώμενος οὐκ ἐν ἡδονῇ ποιεῖται τῶν καταθυμίων τὴν στέρησιν, ἀλλ' ἀκρισίαν τινὰ τοῦ ἐπιστατοῦντος καταγινώσκει, ὡς φθόνῳ τινὶ καὶ οὐ προνοίᾳ τῶν προκειμένων ἀπείργοντος, εἰ δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἔτι ἀσχημονοῦντας τῇ παρατάσει τῆς μέθης βλέποι ἐν ἐμέτοις καὶ καρηβαρίαις καὶ τῷ παραφθέγγεσθαί τι τῶν οὐ δεόντων, χάριν ὁμολογεῖ τῷ πρὸ τοῦ τοιούτου πάθους τῆς ἀμέτρου πλησμονῆς αὐτὸν ἀποστήσαντι: εἰ δὴ νενόηται ἡμῖν τὸ ὑπόδειγμα, ῥᾴδιον ἂν εἴη προσαγαγεῖν τὸ ἐν τούτῳ καταληφθὲν ἡμῖν θεώρημα τῷ προκειμένῳ νοήματι. τί γὰρ τὸ προκείμενον ἦν; ὅτου χάριν ὁ θεός, πολλῆς οὔσης τοῖς πατράσι σπουδῆς φυλαχθῆναι ἑαυτοῖς τὸν τοῦ βίου διάδοχον, ἄωρον πολλάκις ἐν τῷ ἀτελεῖ τῆς ἡλικίας ἐᾷ τὸ τεχθὲν ἀναρπάζεσθαι; πρὸς οὓς ἐροῦμεν τὸ συμποτικὸν ἐκεῖνο ὑπόδειγμα, ὅτι τῆς τοῦ βίου τραπέζης πολλήν τε καὶ παντοδαπὴν τῶν ἐδωδίμων τὴν παρασκευὴν ἐχούσης (νόει δέ μοι κατὰ τὴν ὀψαρτυτικὴν ἐμπειρίαν μὴ πάντα τῷ τῆς ἡδονῆς μέλιτι τὰ τοῦ βίου καταγλυκαίνεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἔστιν ὅπου καὶ τοῖς αὐστηροτέροις τῶν συμπτωμάτων τὴν ζωὴν ἐπαρτύεσθαι, οἷα δὴ φιλοτεχνοῦσιν οἱ τῶν περὶ γαστέρα καὶ θοίνην ἡδονῶν τεχνῖται τοῖς δριμυτέροις ἢ ἁλμῶσιν ἢ παραστύφουσιν τὰς ὀρέξεις τῶν δαιτυμόνων ἀναρριπίζοντες): ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐ διὰ πάντων ἐστὶ τῶν πραγμάτων μελιηδὴς ὁ βίος, ἀλλ' ἔστιν ἐν οἷς ἅλμη τὸ ὄψον ἐστὶν ἢ στῦψις [ἢ] ὀξώδης, ἢ δηκτική τις καὶ δριμεῖα ποιότης ἐντριβεῖσα τοῖς πράγμασι δύσληπτον ποιεῖ τὴν καρυκείαν τοῦ βίου, πλήρεις δὲ οἱ τῆς ἀπάτης κρατῆρες παντοδαποῦ κράματος, ὧν οἱ μὲν τὸ φυσῶδες πάθος διὰ τοῦ τύφου τῆς ἀπάτης τοῖς ἐμπιοῦσιν ἐποίησαν, οἱ δὲ εἰς παραφορὰν τοὺς ἐμπιόντας ἐξεκαλέσαντο, ἄλλοις δὲ τῶν πονηρῶς κτηθέντων τὸν ἔμετον διὰ τῆς αἰσχρᾶς ἀποτίσεως ἀνεκίνησαν: ὡς ἂν οὖν μὴ ἐπιχρονίζοι τῇ τοιαύτῃ τῆς τραπέζης παρασκευῇ ὁ μὴ δεόντως τῷ συμποσίῳ χρησάμενος, θᾶττον ὑπεξάγεται τοῦ τῶν δαιτυμόνων πληρώματος, κερδαίνων τὸ μὴ ἐν ἐκείνοις γενέσθαι, ὧν ἡ ἀμετρία τῆς ἀπολαύσεως τοῖς λαιμαργοῦσι πρόξενος γίνεται. τοῦτό ἐστιν ὅ φημι τελείας εἶναι προνοίας κατόρθωμα, τὸ μὴ μόνον συστάντα θεραπεύειν τὰ πάθη, ἀλλὰ καὶ κωλύειν πρὸ τῆς συστάσεως. ὃ δὴ καὶ περὶ τοῦ θανάτου τῶν ἀρτιτόκων ὑπενοήσαμεν, ὅτι ὁ λόγῳ τὰ πάντα ποιῶν ὑπὸ φιλανθρωπίας ἀφαιρεῖται τῆς κακίας τὴν ὕλην μὴ διδοὺς καιρὸν τῇ προαιρέσει τῇ διὰ τῆς προγνωστικῆς δυνάμεως γνωρισθείσῃ διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἐν κακίας ἐξοχῇ δειχθῆναι οἵα ἐστίν, ὅταν πρὸς τὸ κακὸν τὴν ὁρμὴν ἔχοι.
Πολλάκις δὲ τὴν σεσοφισμένην τῆς φιλαργυρίας ἀνάγκην διὰ τῶν τοιούτων ἐλέγχει ὁ συνιστῶν τὸ τοῦ βίου συμπόσιον, ὡς ἄν, οἶμαι, γυμνὸν τῶν εὐπροσώπων προκαλυμμάτων τὸ τῆς φιλαργυρίας ἀρρώστημα φαίνοιτο μηδενὶ παραπετάσματι πεπλανημένῳ συσκιαζόμενον. φασὶ γὰρ οἱ πολλοὶ διὰ τοῦτο ταῖς τοῦ πλείονος ἐπιθυμίαις ἐπιπλατύνεσθαι, ὡς ἂν πλουσιωτέρους τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῶν γεγονότας ποιήσαιεν: ὧν ἐλέγχει τὴν νόσον ἰδίαν οὖσαν, οὐκ ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἐγγινομένην ἡ ἀπροφάσιστος τῶν ἀτέκνων πλεονεξία: πολλοὶ γὰρ οὔτε ἔχοντες διαδοχὴν ἐπὶ πολλοῖς οἷς ἐμόχθησαν οὔτε ἐν ἐλπίσι τοῦ σχεῖν ὄντες ἀντὶ μυρίων τέκνων πολλὰς ἐπιθυμίας ἐν ἑαυτοῖς παιδοτροφοῦσιν, οὐκ ἔχοντες ποῦ τὴν ἀνάγκην τῆς ἀρρωστίας ταύτης ἐπανενέγκωσιν.
Εἰ δέ τινες κακῶς ἐπιδημοῦντες τῷ βίῳ, τυραννικοί τε καὶ πικροὶ τὴν προαίρεσιν, πάσαις ἀκολασίαις δεδουλωμένοι, θυμῷ παραπλῆγες, φειδόμενοι τῶν ἀνηκέστων κακῶν οὐδενός, λῃσταὶ καὶ ἀνδροφόνοι καὶ πατρίδων προδόται ἢ εἴ τι τούτων ἐστὶν ἐναγέστερον οἶον πατροφόνοι τε καὶ μητρολῷαι καὶ παιδοκτόνοι καὶ ταῖς παρανόμοις μίξεσιν ἐπιλυσσῶντες, εἰ τοιοῦτοί τινες ὄντες ἐν τῇ κακίᾳ ταύτῃ γηράσκουσιν, πῶς ἐρεῖ τις συμβαίνειν ταῦτα τοῖς προεξητασμένοις; εἰ γὰρ τὸ πρὸ ὥρας ἀνάρπαστον, ὡς ἂν μὴ εἰς τέλος κατὰ τὸ ὑπόδειγμα τοῦ συμποσίου τοῖς πάθεσι τῆς ζωῆς ταύτης ἐλλαιμαργήσειεν, προνοητικῶς ὑπεξάγεται τοῦ βιωτικοῦ συμποσίου, τίνος χάριν ὁ τοιοῦτος μέχρι γήρως ἐμπαροινεῖ τῷ συμποσίῳ, πονηρὰν ἑαυτῷ τε καὶ τοῖς συμπόταις τὴν τῶν κακῶν ἑωλοκρασίαν ἐπισκεδάζων; πρὸς οὓς ἐροῦμεν μηδὲν ἔλαττον καὶ ἐπὶ τούτων τὴν προνοητικὴν τοῦ θεοῦ οἰκονομίαν διαφαίνεσθαι: τὸ μὲν γὰρ δύνασθαι καὶ τὸν πρὸς τοῦτο τὸ μέτρον τῆς πονηρίας ἐλάσαντα χρόνων τισὶ μακρῶν περιόδοις διὰ τῆς αἰωνίας καθάρσεως πάλιν ἀποδοῦναι τῷ τῶν σῳζομένων πληρώματι παντὶ πρόδηλον πάντως τῷ πρὸς τὴν θείαν δύναμιν βλέποντι. τίς γὰρ οὕτως τῆς θείας φύσεως ἀνεπίσκεπτος, ὡς τὰ ἄλλα τοῦ θεοῦ βλέπων, ὅσα τῷ ὑπερέχοντι τῆς δυνάμεως ἐν μόνῃ τῇ τοῦ θελήματος ὁρμῇ κατειργάσατο, περὶ τοῦτο μόνον ἀτονεῖν αὐτὸν οἴεσθαι; εἰ γάρ τις ἀνθρωπικῶς ἐξετάζειν ἐθέλοι, δυσκολώτερον εὑρεθήσεται τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ πάντα τὸν ἐν τούτοις κόσμον μὴ ὄντα παραγαγεῖν εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἢ διὰ κακίας πλανηθεῖσαν ψυχὴν πάλιν ἐπαναγαγεῖν [αὐτὴν] πρὸς τὴν κατὰ φύσιν ζωήν, ὥστε τὸ φιλάνθρωπον θέλημα οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τούτων ἀργὸν ἂν εἴη. τὸ δὲ διαρκὲς τῆς ἐν κακίᾳ τούτῳ ζωῆς οὐ θεόθεν τὰς ἀφορμὰς ἔχει: τοῦ μὲν γὰρ ζῆν τὴν δύναμιν παρὰ τοῦ τὴν ζωὴν πεποιηκότος ἐδέξατο, τοῦ δὲ κακῶς ζῆν ἡ οἰκεία καθηγεῖται προαίρεσις, ἧς μὴ πρὸς τοῦτο τὴν ῥοπὴν ἐχούσης οὐδ' ἂν ἦν ὅλως ἐν κακίᾳ ὁ ἄνθρωπος. κακὸν γὰρ κατ' οἰκείαν ὑπόστασιν οὐδέν, μὴ ἐν τῇ προαιρέσει τοῦ κακῶς βιοῦντος δημιουργούμενον. εἰ οὖν τῆς συνισταμένης ἔν τινι κακίας ὁ θεὸς ἀναίτιος, οὐκέτι ἂν εὐλόγως εἰς ἐκεῖνον ἀναφέροιτο τῆς ἐν κακίᾳ τούτων ζωῆς ἡ αἰτία.
Ἀλλὰ διὰ τί, πάντως ἐρεῖς, τὸν μὲν προνοητικῶς ὑπεξάγει τοῦ βίου πρὶν τελειωθῆναι διὰ τοῦ κακοῦ τὴν προαίρεσιν, τὸν δὲ καταλείπει γενέσθαι τοιοῦτον, ὡς ἄμεινον αὐτῷ εἶναι τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι ὅλως; πρὸς δὲ τοῦτο τοιοῦτόν τινα τοῖς εὐγνωμονεστέροις ἀποδώσομεν λόγον, ὅτι πολλάκις ἡ ζωὴ τῶν εὖ βεβιωκότων καὶ τοῖς ἐξ αὐτῶν αἰτία τοῦ βελτίονος γίνεται. καὶ μυρίαι τούτων ἐκ τῆς θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς αἱ μαρτυρίαι, δι' ὧν σαφῶς διδασκόμεθα τῆς παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ γενομένης τοῖς ἀξίοις κηδεμονίας καὶ τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῶν συμμετέχειν. ἀγαθὸν δ' ἂν εἴη κεφάλαιον καὶ τὸ ἐμποδών τινι πρὸς κακίαν γενέσθαι τῷ μέλλοντι πάντως κατ' ἐκείνην βιώσεσθαι. ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν ἀδήλων ὁ λόγος ἐνταῦθα καταστοχάζεται, πάντως οὐδεὶς αἰτιάσεται πολλαχῇ τοῦ στοχασμοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν ἄγοντος. οὐ μόνον γὰρ τοῖς καθηγουμένοις τοῦ γένους εἴποι τις ἂν τὸν θεὸν χαριζόμενον ὑπεξάγειν τῆς κακῆς ζωῆς τὸν κατ' αὐτὴν βιωσόμενον, ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ μηδὲν εἴη τοιοῦτον ἐπὶ τῶν πρὸ ὥρας ἀναρπαζομένων, οὐδὲν ἀπεικὸς οἴεσθαι τὸ χαλεπώτερον ἂν ἐκείνους ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι τοῦ κατὰ κακίαν βίου ἢ τούτων ἕκαστον τῶν ἐπὶ πονηρίᾳ γνωρισθέντων παρὰ τὸν βίον.