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what is called fortune or fate, which alters all things and does not allow them to remain in the same state. And fate is both the fated energy, or God himself, or the order appointed after him over all things heavenly and earthly, along with necessity. And one conceives the beginnings of things, while the other compels their ends to come to pass; and upon these follow order and law, and nothing is without order". That Porphyry seems to speak about fortune more according to the doctrines of Hermes, saying thus: "The ancients connected fortune with the number seven, as having the spinning of the seven, as many things as are spun from it into the living being and the energy outside it, with this being the mistress of all things". And they also assign opportunity to fortune, because opportunity in affairs is also the good aim of each one toward the subject at hand. And Proclus, in his Outline of Platonic Philosophy, says these things about the doctrines of the soul: "Some have received solar daemons as leaders, others lunar, and others still others. In accordance with the nature of their leaders, therefore, good fortunes come to men; for through them as intermediaries, good things are sent from the divine to us according to merit". And the Peleus of Euripides is a witness: for apart from a god no mortal is fortunate. Alas, how uneven are the fortunes of mortals? For some fare well, but harsh misfortunes are present for those who are pious toward god. But the Romans, believing it to be nothing other than happiness among men, have considered it alone to be the ruler of all things, appropriately naming her Fortuna from motion (phora). But it is clear that Plato, according to his divinely inspired simplicity, makes mention of the name of fortune absolutely, but he does not, in theologizing, place it in the order of the gods. But Aristotle and Theophrastus and all those of their school do not even deign for it to exist, saying: if there is virtue, there is no fortune; for the things of fortune are exercised up and down in human affairs, in wealth and power and especially in injustice; but those who are disposed toward virtue and mindful of God and who stir up better hopes for immaterial and blessed things despise the good things of this world; for nothing of fortune is secure, as Euripides says in Hypsipyle. O mortal delusions of men! In vain are those who say that fortune exists, but not the gods; for if fortune exists, there is no need of god, but if the gods have power, fortune is nothing. For the name of fortune is something random and without intelligence. The affairs of men are naturally likened to a ladder because of their uneven movement; "for in one day," as someone said, "it cast one down from on high, and raised another up," with nothing among us being naturally constituted to remain in the same state, but changing with all sorts of turns. Or do not rulers come from private citizens, and private citizens from rulers, the poor from the rich and the very wealthy from the poor, and the renowned from the neglected, and the most distinguished from the obscure? Worse are those who long for wealth beyond measure, for wealth is a servant more of vice than of virtue, says Isocrates the rhetor; and I think that Plato, having attended to these things, said that no one becomes master of the greatest wealth, unless he has first paid the penalty in his soul. 4.8 On the first of the Calends, then, as we have said, the priests, according to the Sibylline oracles, decreed that for the sake of health everyone from early morning, before any other food, should taste unmixed wine as a preventative against gout. And it should be known that on the day of the Calends the sun is at its height, and the Crown sets at dawn. 4.9 And on the next day, which is the fourth day before the Nones of January, they were at leisure because of the sacred horse races. And before the procession to the hippodrome, with the high priests being present with them, they made offerings to the demons, and in the streets they distributed to the crowd what were called by them miliarisia in honor of Scipio; for he himself first, in the one hundred and ninth Olympiad, due to a shortage of gold, to the soldiers the miliarisia

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καλουμένην τύχην ἢ εἱμαρμένην, ἥτις πάντα ἀλλοιοῖ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐᾷ μένειν. ἡ δὲ εἱμαρμένη ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ εἱμαρτὴ ἐνέργεια ἢ αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς ἢ ἡ μετ' ἐκείνην τεταγμένη κατὰ πάντων οὐρανίων τε καὶ ἐπιγείων μετὰ τῆς ἀνάγκης τάξις. καὶ ἡ μὲν αὐτὰς κύει τὰς ἀρχὰς τῶν πραγμάτων, ἣ δὲ καταναγκάζει καὶ τὰ τέλη γίνεσθαι· ταύταις δὲ ἀκολουθεῖ τάξις καὶ νόμος καὶ οὐδὲν ἄτακτον». ὅτι κατὰ τὰ Ἑρμοῦ δόγματα μᾶλλον ὁ Πορφύριος δοκεῖ λέγειν περὶ τύχης, λέγων οὕτω· «τὴν τύχην οἱ παλαιοὶ τῷ ἑπτὰ ἀριθμῷ συνῆπτον, ὡς τὴν τῶν ἑπτὰ ἐπίκλωσιν ἔχουσαν, ὅσα εἰς τὸ ζῶον καὶ τὴν ἐκτὸς τούτου ἐνέργειαν ἀπ' αὐτῆς ἐπικλώθεται ταύτης κυρίας πάντων γινομένης». καὶ τὸν καιρὸν δὲ τῇ τύχῃ προσνέμουσι, διότι ὁ καιρὸς ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι καὶ εὐστοχία ἑκάστου πρὸς τὸ ὑποκείμενον. ὁ δὲ Πρόκλος ἐν ὑποτυπώσει τῆς Πλατωνικῆς φιλοσοφίας περὶ τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς δογμάτων ταῦτα λέγει· «οἱ μὲν ἡλιακοὺς ἔλαχον δαιμόνων ἡγεμόνας, οἱ δὲ σεληνιακούς, ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλους. πρὸς τοίνυν τὴν φύσιν τῶν ἡγεμόνων πρόεισιν ἀνθρώποις τὰ εὐτυχήματα· διὰ γὰρ μέσων αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τῶν θείων εἰς ἡμᾶς διαπέμπεται τὰ ἀγαθὰ κατ' ἀξίαν». καὶ μάρτυς ὁ Εὐριπίδου Πηλεύς· θεοῦ γὰρ ἐκτὸς οὐδεὶς εὐτυχεῖ βροτός. Φεῦ τῶν βροτείων ὡς ἀνώμαλοι τύχαι; οἱ μὲν γὰρ εὖ πράσσουσι, τοῖς δὲ συμφοραὶ σκληραὶ πάρεισιν εὐσεβοῦσι πρὸς θεοῦ. Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ μηδὲν ἕτερον παρὰ τὴν ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδαιμονίαν εἶναι νομίζοντες αὐτὴν καὶ μόνην τῶν πάντων ἡγεῖσθαι νενομίκασι, Φορτοῦναν αὐτὴν ἀπὸ τῆς φορᾶς ἐμφερῶς ὀνομάσαντες. δῆλον δὲ ὅτι ὁ μὲν Πλάτων κατὰ τὴν ἔνθεον αὐτοῦ ἀφέλειαν μέμνηται ἀπολύτως τοῦ τύχης ὀνόματος, οὐ μὴν θεολογῶν ἐν τάξει θεῶν τίθησι αὐτήν. Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ καὶ Θεόφραστος καὶ πάντες οἱ κατ' αὐτοὺς οὐδὲ εἶναι αὐτὴν ἀξιοῦσι φάσκοντες· εἰ ἔστιν ἀρετή, οὐκ ἔστι τύχη· ἄνω γὰρ καὶ κάτω τὰ τῆς τύχης ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις γυμνάζεται πράγμασι, πλούτῳ δὲ καὶ δυνάμει καὶ διαφερόντως ἀδικίᾳ· οἱ δὲ πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἔχοντες καὶ θεοῦ μεμνημένοι καὶ κρείττονας ἐπὶ τῶν ἀΰλων καὶ μακαρίων πραγμάτων ἐλπίδας σαλεύοντες καταφρονοῦσι τῶν τῇδε καλῶν· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀσφαλές ἐστι τῆς τύχης, ὡς Εὐριπίδης ἐν Ὑψιπύλῃ. Ὦ θνητὰ παραφρονήματ' ἀνθρώπων· μάτην οἵ φασιν εἶναι τὴν τύχην ἀλλ' οὐ θεούς· εἰ γὰρ τύχη μὲν ἔστιν, οὐδὲν δεῖ θεοῦ, εἰ δ' οἱ θεοὶ σθένουσιν, οὐδὲν ἡ τύχη. εἰκαῖον γάρ τι καὶ ἀνούσιον τὸ τῆς τύχης ὄνομα. τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πράγματα κλίμακι πέφυκεν ἐξομοιοῦ σθαι διὰ τὴν ἀνώμαλον αὐτῶν φοράν· «ἐν μιᾷ γάρ», ὡς ἔφη τις, ἡμέρᾳ τὸν μὲν καθεῖλεν ὑψόθεν, τὸν δ' ἦρ' ἄνω, μηδενὸς ἐν ὁμοίῳ πεφυκότος μένειν τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ παντοίαις μεταβάλλοντος τροπαῖς. ἢ οὐκ ἄρχοντες μὲν ἐξ ἰδιωτῶν, ἰδιῶται δὲ ἐξ ἀρχόντων, πένητες δὲ ἐκ πλουσίων καὶ ἐκ πενήτων πολυχρήματοι, καὶ ἔνδοξοι μὲν ἐξ ἠμελημένων, ἐπιφανέστατοι δὲ ἐξ ἀδόξων γίνονται; χείρους οἱ τοῦ πλούτου παρὰ τὸ μέτρον ἐφιέμενοι, πλοῦτος γὰρ μᾶλλον κακίας ἢ καλοκἀγαθίας ὑπηρέτης ἐστί, φησὶν Ἰσοκράτης ὁ ῥήτωρ· καὶ οἶμαι τούτοις προσσχόντα τὸν Πλάτωνα φάναι, μηδένα γίνεσθαι μεγίστου πλούτου κύριον, εἰ μὴ τὸν προεζημιωμένον τὴν ψυχήν. 4.8 Τῇ πρώτῃ τοίνυν ὡς ἔφημεν τῶν Καλενδῶν ἐθέσπιζον οἱ ἱερεῖς κατὰ τοὺς Σιβυλλίους χρησμοὺς ὑπὲρ ὑγείας χρῆναι πάντας ἀπὸ πρωῒ πρὸ πάσης ἑτέρας τροφῆς ἀπογεύεσθαι ἀκράτου οἴνου εἰς ἀποτρόπαιον ποδαλγίας. ἰστέον δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τῶν Καλενδῶν τὸν ἥλιον ἐφ' ὕψους γίνεσθαι, τὸν δὲ Στέφανον δύεσθαι ὄρθρου. 4.9 Τῇ δὲ ἑξῆς, ἥτις ἐστὶ πρὸ τεσσάρων Νωνῶν Ἰανουαρίων, ἐσχόλαζον διὰ τὰ ἱερὰ τὰ ἱπποδρόμια. οἱ δὲ πρὸ τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν ἱπποδρομίαν προόδου, συμπαρόντων αὐτοῖς τῶν ἀρχιερέων, ἐνήγιζον τοῖς δαίμοσιν, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἀγυιῶν τὰ παρ' αὐτοῖς καλούμενα μιλιαρίσια τῷ πλήθει ἐπεδίδοσαν εἰς τιμὴν Σκιπίωνος· πρῶτος γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τῆς ἑκατοστῆς ἐννάτης Ὀλυμπιάδος δι' ἔνδειαν χρυσίου τοῖς στρατιώταις τὰ μιλιαρίσια