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15.5.2 "Since the belief concerning providence is still the greatest and most important of the things that contribute to happiness, which indeed especially sets human life aright, if at least we are not to be ignorant whether the race of earthly men ascends by a higher wall of justice or by crooked deceits, Plato, on the one hand, refers all things to God and from God. For he says that He, holding the beginning, middle, and end of all things that are, accomplishes them by a straight course as he goes on his circuit. And again, he says that He is good, and in a good being no envy arises about anything. And being free of this, he makes all things as good as possible, bringing them from disorder into order. And that taking care of all things and ordering all things according to His power, He has also taken thought for men.” 15.5.3 And after a little: “And Plato, on the one hand, says thus. But he who does away with this divine nature, and cuts off the future hope of the soul, and takes away the present reverence towards superior beings, what communion has he with Plato? or how could he exhort men to the things Plato desires, and make credible 15.5.4 what has been said? For quite the contrary, this man would appear a co-worker and a fellow-combatant of those who wish to do wrong. For every man, being human and constrained by human desires, if he should despise the gods and think they have nothing to do with him, seeing that in life he is settled far from them, and after death 15.5.5 is no longer even in existence, would readily come to gratify his desires. For to gain confidence about escaping notice while doing wrong is not impossible, if at least one must escape the notice of men; nor indeed is it necessary in every case to seek to escape notice, where one is able to overpower any of those who have caught him. So that despair of providence is a ready tool for injustice. 15.5.6 For that man is very good indeed, who, having set pleasure before us as the good and having furnished freedom from fear of the gods, still thinks to provide a device for not doing wrong, doing something similar to a physician who neglects to help the sick man while he is still living, but after death tries to weave some 15.5.7 devices for the salvation of the one who has died. And similarly to this, the Peripatetic also. For zeal for pleasure does not so much strengthen injustice as does the disbelief that the divine cares for us. What then, someone might say, do you rank Aristotle and Epicurus in the same class? Certainly, at least with regard to 15.5.8 the matter at hand. For what difference does it make to us, either to banish the divine from the world and leave us no communion with it, or, having confined the gods in the world, to make them stand aloof from affairs on earth? For according to both, the neglect of men from the gods is equal, and the freedom from fear of the gods for wrongdoers is equal. But for us to enjoy some good while they remain in heaven is something especially common to both irrational and inanimate things, and indeed in this way 15.5.9, even according to Epicurus, a benefit comes to men from the gods. At least, they say their better emanations become the accessory cause of great goods to those who partake of them. But it is right to count neither this one nor that one in an account of providence. For if even according to Epicurus the matter of providence is gone, although according to him the gods contribute all care for the preservation of their own goods, so too would the matter of providence 15.5.10 be gone according to Aristotle, even if celestial things are administered in some order and arrangement. For we are seeking a providence that pertains to us, of which he who has not granted that either daemons or heroes or souls in general can survive has no share. 15.5.11 But that which Epicurus has done seems to me as judge even more shameful; for as if despairing that the gods could refrain from caring for men if they came into the same place with them, he sent them off to a colony as if to a foreign land and established them somewhere outside the world, excusing their inhumanity by their distance 15.5.12 and their lack of communion with all things. But this extraordinary for us discoverer of nature and of divine things

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15.5.2 «Ὄντος δ' ἔτι μεγίστου καὶ κυριωτάτου τῶν εἰς εὐδαιμονίαν συντελούντων τοῦ περὶ τῆς προνοίας πείσματος, ὃ δὴ καὶ μάλιστα τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον ὀρθοῖ, εἴ γε μὴ μέλλομεν ἀγνοεῖν, πότερον δίκᾳ τεῖχος ὕψιον ἢ σκολιαῖς ἀπάταις ἀναβαίνει ἐπιχθονίων γένος ἀνδρῶν, ὁ μὲν Πλάτων εἰς θεὸν καὶ ἐκ θεοῦ πάντα ἀνάπτει. φησὶ γὰρ αὐτὸν ἀρχήν τε καὶ μέσα καὶ τελευτὴν τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων ἔχοντα εὐθείᾳ περαίνειν περιπορευόμενον. καὶ αὖ πάλιν φησὶν αὐτὸν ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, ἀγαθῷ δὲ μηδένα φθόνον ἐγγίγνεσθαι περὶ μηδενός. τούτου δ' ἐκτὸς ὄντα πάντα ὅτι μάλιστα ἀγαθὰ ποιεῖν, εἰς τάξιν ἄγοντα ἐκ τῆς ἀταξίας. πάντων δὲ ἐπιμελούμενον καὶ πάντα κατὰ δύναμιν κοσμοῦντα πεφροντικέναι καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων.» 15.5.3 Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα· «Καὶ ὁ μὲν Πλάτων οὕτως. ὁ δὲ τὴν δαιμονίαν ταύτην φύσιν ἐκποδὼν ποιούμενος καὶ τήν γε εἰσαῦθις ἐλπίδα τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποτέμνων τήν τε ἐν τῷ παρόντι πρὸς τῶν κρειττόνων εὐλάβειαν ἀφαιρούμενος τίνα πρὸς Πλάτωνα ἔχει κοινωνίαν; ἢ πῶς ἂν ἐφ' ἃ βούλεται Πλάτων παρακαλέσαι καὶ πιστώ15.5.4 σαιτο τὰ εἰρημένα; πᾶν γὰρ τοὐναντίον συνεργὸς ἂν οὗτός γε καὶ συναγωνιστὴς τῶν ἐθελόντων ἀδικεῖν φανείη. πᾶς γάρ τις ἄνθρωπος ὢν καὶ ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις ὀρέξεσι κατισχημένος, ἂν καταφρονήσῃ τῶν θεῶν καὶ μηδὲν νομίσῃ πρὸς αὑτόν, ἅτε πόρρω μὲν αὐτῶν ἀπῳκισμένος ἐν τῷ ζῆν, ἀποθανὼν 15.5.5 δὲ οὐδὲ ἔτι ὤν, ἕτοιμος ἂν ἔλθοι πρὸς τὸ χαρίζεσθαι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις. πίστιν γὰρ λαβεῖν περὶ τοῦ λαθεῖν ἀδικοῦντα οὐκ ἀδύνατον, ἄν γε ἀνθρώπους δέῃ λανθάνειν· οὐ μὴν ἀναγκαῖον ἐκ παντὸς λαθεῖν ζητεῖν, ὅπου γέ τις τῶν πεφωρακότων κρατεῖν δυνατός ἐστιν. ὥστε ἕτοιμόν τι χρῆμα πρὸς ἀδικίαν ἡ 15.5.6 τῆς προνοίας ἀπόγνωσις. ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ καὶ πάνυ χρηστός ἐστιν, ὅστις τὴν ἡδονὴν ἡμῖν προτείνας ὡς ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὴν ἐκ θεῶν ἄδειαν παρασχόμενος ἔτι μηχανὴν πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἀδικεῖν πορίζειν οἴεται, ὅμοιόν τι ποιῶν ἰατρῷ τὴν μὲν ἔτι ζῶντος τοῦ κάμνοντος βοήθειαν παρέντι, μετὰ θάνατον δὲ πλέκειν τινὰς 15.5.7 μηχανὰς πειρωμένῳ πρὸς σωτηρίαν τοῦ τεθνεῶτος. παραπλησίως δὲ τούτῳ καὶ ὁ Περιπατητικός. οὐ γὰρ οὕτως ἡ περὶ τὴν ἡδονὴν σπουδὴ ὡς ἡ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ὅτι κήδοιτο ἀπιστία τὴν ἀδικίαν ἐπιρρώννυσι. τί οὖν, φήσαι τις ἄν, ἐν ταὐτῷ τάττεις Ἀριστοτέλην καὶ Ἐπίκουρον; πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ὥς γε πρὸς 15.5.8 τὸ προκείμενον. τί γὰρ διαφέρει πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἢ τοῦ κόσμου τὸ θεῖον ἐξοικίσασθαι καὶ μηδεμίαν ἡμῖν πρὸς αὐτὸ κοινωνίαν ἀπολιπεῖν, ἢ ἐν κόσμῳ τοὺς θεοὺς καθείρξαντα τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς πραγμάτων ἀποστῆσαι; κατ' ἴσον γὰρ παρ' ἀμφοτέροις τὸ ἐκ θεῶν ἀμελὲς εἰς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ ἴση τοῖς ἀδικοῦσιν ἡ ἀπὸ τῶν θεῶν ἄδεια. τὸ δ' ἐκείνων μενόντων κατ' οὐρανὸν καὶ ἡμᾶς τι χρηστὸν ἀπολαύειν μάλιστα μὲν κοινὸν καὶ ἀλόγων καὶ ἀψύχων, ἤδη δὲ ταύτη 15.5.9 γε καὶ κατ' Ἐπίκουρον ὄνησις τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀπὸ θεῶν γίνεται. τὰς γοῦν βελτίονας ἀπορροίας αὐτῶν φασι τοῖς μετασχοῦσι μεγάλων ἀγαθῶν παραιτίας γίνεσθαι. ἀλλ' οὔτε τοῦτον οὔτε ἐκεῖνον δίκαιον ἐν προνοίας ἀριθμεῖσθαι λόγῳ. εἴπερ γὰρ καὶ κατ' Ἐπίκουρον τὸ τῆς προνοίας οἴχεται, καίτοι τῶν θεῶν κατ' αὐτὸν πᾶσαν κηδεμονίαν ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας τῶν οἰκείων ἀγαθῶν εἰσφερομένων, οὕτως ἂν οἴχοιτο καὶ κατ' Ἀριστοτέλην τὸ τῆς προ15.5.10 νοίας, εἰ καὶ τὰ κατ' οὐρανὸν ἐν τάξει τινὶ καὶ κόσμῳ διοικεῖται. πρό νοιαν γὰρ ζητοῦμεν ἡμῖν διαφέρουσαν, ἧς οὐ μέτεστι τῷ μήτε δαίμονας μήτε ἥρωας μήτε ὅλως ἐπιδιαμένειν δύνασθαι τὰς ψυχὰς συγκεχωρηκότι. 15.5.11 ἐκεῖνο δ' ἐμοὶ κριτῇ καὶ αἰσχυντηλότερον ὁ Ἐπίκουρος δοκεῖ πεποιηκέναι· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀπογνοὺς δύνασθαι τοὺς θεοὺς ἀποσχέσθαι τῆς ἀνθρώπων κηδεμονίας εἰς ταὐτὸν ἐλθόντας αὐτοῖς καθάπερ εἰς ἀλλοδαπὴν ἀπῴκισε καὶ ἔξω που τοῦ κόσμου καθίδρυσε, τὸ ἀπάνθρωπον αὐτῶν τῇ ἀποστάσει 15.5.12 καὶ τῇ πρὸς ἅπαντ' ἀκοινωνησίᾳ παραιτούμενος. ὁ δὲ περιττὸς ἡμῖν οὗτος τῆς φύσεως εὑρετὴς καὶ τῶν θείων πραγμάτων