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him, so that he might choose the better things; but after choosing foolishly, prayer is henceforth vain, since what follows will in any case be brought on by necessity. But we determine that prayer has power even in these matters. For it is within providence for the one who sails to be shipwrecked or not, not however that one of these happens from necessity, but contingently. For God is not under necessity, nor is it right to say that his will is enslaved to necessity; for indeed He is the creator of necessity. For He imposed necessity upon the stars so that they always move in the same ways, and He set bounds to the sea, and He placed a necessary limit on universal and general things, which if they wish to call fate, because it happens in every way and by all means thus by necessity, as all things that come into being by succession perish, there is no argument; for we do not dispute with them about names; but He Himself not only stands outside all necessity but is also its Lord and maker. For being authority and an authoritative nature, He does nothing by the necessity of nature nor by the ordinance of law, but all things are contingent for Him, even necessary things. And that this might be shown, He once stopped the course of the sun and moon, things that are moved by necessity and are always in the same state, in order to show that nothing happens to Him by necessity but all things contingently by His authority. But He made such a day once, as Scripture has also noted, only to demonstrate this and not to dissolve the ordinance set by Him from the beginning of the necessary motion of the stars. So also He preserves certain men in life, like Elijah and Enoch, though they are mortal and subject to corruption, so that through all these things we may understand His authority and unconstrained will. The Stoics say that when the planets return to the same point in both longitude and latitude where each was at the beginning when the cosmos was first formed, in fixed periods of time a conflagration and destruction of existing things is brought about, and again from the beginning the cosmos is restored to the same state, and as the stars again move in the same way, each of the things that happened in the previous period is accomplished without change. For there will be again a Socrates and a Plato and each of the men with the same friends and fellow citizens, and they will suffer the same things, and encounter the same things and handle the same things, and every city and village and field will be restored in the same way; and the restoration of the universe happens not once but many times; or rather, infinitely, and the same things are restored without end; and the gods who are not subject to this destruction, having observed one period, know from it all the things that will be in the subsequent periods; for there will be nothing different from what happened before, but all things in the same way without change down to the smallest details. And because of this restoration, some say that Christians imagine the resurrection, being greatly mistaken. For the oracles of Christ teach that the things of the resurrection will happen once for all, and not in a cycle. 38 Concerning that which is in our power, that is, concerning free will The discourse on free will, that is, on what is in our power, has as its first question whether there is anything in our power; for many oppose this; second, what are the things in our power, and over what do we have authority; third, to examine the reason for which God who made us, made us with free will. Taking up the first point, therefore, let us speak first, demonstrating that there is something in our power from things acknowledged even by them. Of all things that happen, they say the cause is either God or necessity or fate or nature or chance or the spontaneous. But the work of God is substance and providence; of necessity, the movement of things that are always the same; of fate, that things are accomplished through it by necessity (for it too is a part of necessity); of nature, generation, growth, decay, plants and animals; of chance, rare and unexpected things (for they define chance as the coincidence and concurrence of two causes originating from choice, producing something other than what is natural, as when someone digging a trench finds a treasure).

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αὐτόν, ὥστε τὰ κρείττω ἑλέσθαι· μετὰ δὲ τὸ προελέσθαι μάταια λοιπὸν τὰ τῆς εὐχῆς, τῶν ἑπομένων πάντως ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἐπαγομένων. ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις δύνασθαι τὴν εὐχὴν διοριζόμεθα. ἐπὶ τῇ προνοίᾳ γὰρ εἶναι τὸ ναυαγῆσαι τὸν πλέοντα καὶ μή, οὐκ ἐξ ἀνάγκης μέντοι τὸ ἕτερον αὐτῶν, ἀλλ' ἐνδεχομένως. οὐ γὰρ ὑπ' ἀνάγκην ὁ θεός, οὐδὲ τὴν βούλησιν αὐτοῦ δουλεύειν ἀνάγκῃ θεμιτὸν εἰπεῖν· καὶ γὰρ τῆς ἀνάγκης δημιουργός ἐστιν. ἀνάγκην μὲν γὰρ ἐπέθηκεν τοῖς ἄστροις ὥστε ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ κινεῖσθαι, καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν περιώρισεν, καὶ τοῖς καθόλου καὶ γενικοῖς ὅρον ἀναγκαῖον ἔθηκεν, ὃν εἰ βούλονται καλεῖν εἱμαρμένην διὰ τὸ πάντῃ καὶ πάντως οὕτω γίνεσθαι κατ' ἀνάγκην, ὡς πάντα τὰ κατὰ διαδοχὴν ἐν γενέσει φθείρεσθαι, λό γος οὐδείς· περὶ γὰρ ὀνομάτων οὐκ ἀμφισβητοῦμεν πρὸς αὐτούς· αὐτὸς δὲ πάσης ἀνάγκης οὐ μόνον ἐκτὸς καθέστηκεν ἀλλὰ καὶ κύριος καὶ ποιητής ἐστιν. ἐξουσία γὰρ ὢν καὶ φύσις ἐξουσιαστική, οὐδὲν οὔτε φύσεως ἀνάγκῃ οὔτε θεσμῷ νόμου ποιεῖ, πάντα δέ ἐστιν αὐτῷ ἐνδεχόμενα καὶ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα. καὶ ἵνα τοῦτο δειχθῇ ἔστησέ ποτε τὸν δρόμον ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης, τῶν ἀνάγκῃ φερομένων καὶ ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἐχόντων, ἵνα δείξῃ μηδὲν αὐτῷ κατ' ἀνάγκην γίνεσθαι ἀλλὰ πάντα κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἐνδεχομένως. ἅπαξ δὲ τοιαύτην ἡμέραν ἐποίησεν, ὡς ἐπεσημήνατο καὶ ἡ γραφή, ἵνα μόνον ἐνδείξηται καὶ μὴ διαλύσῃ τὸν θεσμὸν τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς αὐτῷ τεθέντα τῆς ἀναγκαίας τῶν ἄστρων φορᾶς. οὕτω καί τινας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν τῇ ζωῇ διαφυλάττει, ὡς τὸν Ἠλίαν καὶ τὸν Ἑνώχ, θνητοὺς ὄντας καὶ ὑποκειμένους φθορᾷ, ἵνα διὰ πάντων τούτων τὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀκατανάγκαστον βούλησιν κατανοήσωμεν. οἱ δὲ Στωϊκοί φασιν ἀποκαθισταμένους τοὺς πλανήτας εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ σημεῖον κατά τε μῆκος καὶ πλάτος ἔνθα τὴν ἀρχὴν ἕκαστος ἦν ὅτε τὸ πρῶτον ὁ κόσμος συνέστη, ἐν ῥηταῖς χρόνων περιόδοις ἐκπύρωσιν καὶ φθορὰν τῶν ὄντων ἀπεργάζεσθαι, καὶ πάλιν ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ τὸν κόσμον ἀποκαθί στασθαι, καὶ τῶν ἀστέρων ὁμοίως πάλιν φερομένων ἕκαστα τῶν ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ περιόδῳ γενομένων ἀπαραλλάκτως ἀποτελεῖσθαι. ἔσεσθαι γὰρ πάλιν Σωκράτην καὶ Πλάτωνα καὶ ἕκαστον τῶν ἀνθρώπων σὺν τοῖς αὐτοῖς καὶ φίλοις καὶ πολίταις, καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ πείσεσθαι, καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς συντεύξεσθαι καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ μεταχειριεῖσθαι, καὶ πᾶσαν πόλιν καὶ κώμην καὶ ἀγρὸν ὁμοίως ἀποκαθίστασθαι· γίνεσθαι δὲ τὴν ἀποκατάστασιν τοῦ παντὸς οὐχ ἅπαξ ἀλλὰ πολλάκις· μᾶλλον δὲ εἰς ἄπειρον, καὶ ἀτελευτήτως τὰ αὐτὰ ἀποκαθίστασθαι· τοὺς δὲ θεοὺς τοὺς μὴ ὑποκειμένους τῇ φθορᾷ ταύτῃ, παρακολουθήσαντας μιᾷ περιόδῳ γινώσκειν ἐκ ταύτης πάντα τὰ μέλλοντα ἔσεσθαι ἐν ταῖς ἑξῆς περιόδοις· οὐδὲν γὰρ ξένον ἔσεσθαι παρὰ τὰ γενόμενα πρότερον, ἀλλὰ πάντα ὡσαύτως ἀπαραλλάκτως ἄχρι καὶ τῶν ἐλαχίστων. καὶ διὰ ταύτην τὴν ἀποκατάστασιν φασί τινες τοὺς Χριστιανοὺς τὴν ἀνάστασιν φαντάζεσθαι, πολὺ πλανηθέντες. εἰς ἅπαξ γὰρ τὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως, καὶ οὐ κατὰ περίοδον ἔσεσθαι τὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δοξάζει λόγια. 38 περὶ τοῦ ἐφ' ἡμῖν ὅ ἐστι περὶ τοῦ αὐτεξουσίου Ὁ περὶ τοῦ αὐτεξουσίου λόγος, τουτέστι τοῦ ἐφ' ἡμῖν, πρώτην μὲν ἔχει ζήτησιν εἰ ἔστι τι ἐφ' ἡμῖν· πολλοὶ γὰρ οἱ πρὸς τοῦτο ἀντιβαίνοντες· δευτέραν δὲ τίνα ἐστὶ τὰ ἐφ' ἡμῖν, καὶ τίνων ἐξουσίαν ἔχομεν· τρίτην τὴν αἰτίαν ἐξετάσαι δι' ἣν ὁ ποιήσας ἡμᾶς Θεὸς αὐτεξουσίους ἐποίησεν. ἀναλαβόντες οὖν περὶ τοῦ πρώτου πρῶτον εἴπωμεν, ἀποδεικνύντες ὅτι ἔστι τι ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐκ τῶν καὶ παρ' ἐκείνοις ὁμολογουμένων. τῶν γινομένων πάντων ἢ θεόν φασιν αἴτιον εἶναι ἢ ἀνάγκην ἢ εἱμαρμένην ἢ φύσιν ἢ τύχην ἢ τὸ αὐτόματον. ἀλλὰ τοῦ μὲν θεοῦ ἔργον οὐσία καὶ πρόνοια· τῆς δὲ ἀνάγκης τῶν ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἐχόντων ἡ κίνησις· τῆς δὲ εἱμαρμένης τὸ ἐξ ἀνάγκης τὰ δι' αὐτῆς ἐπιτελεῖσθαι (καὶ γὰρ αὐτὴ τῆς ἀνάγκης ἐστί)· τῆς δὲ φύσεως γένεσις, αὔξησις, φθορά, φυτὰ καὶ ζῷα· τῆς δὲ τύχης τὰ σπάνια καὶ ἀπροσδόκητα (ὁρίζονται γὰρ τὴν τύχην σύμπτωσιν καὶ συνδρομὴν δύο αἰτίων ἀπὸ προαιρέσεως τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐχόντων ἄλλο τι παρ' ὃ πέφυκεν ἀποτελούντων, ὡς τάφρον ὀρύσσοντα θησαυρὸν εὑρεῖν.