On Providence (ed. 2)
- Language:
- Latin
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~6,530 words · 31 passages
Cite this work
- APALucius Annaeus Seneca. (n.d.). On Providence (ed. 2). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/de-providentia
- MLALucius Annaeus Seneca. "On Providence (ed. 2)." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/de-providentia.
- ChicagoLucius Annaeus Seneca. On Providence (ed. 2). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/seneca/de-providentia.
What it is about
Why do bad things happen to good people if the world is governed by providence? The Stoic answer: adversity is the training, and the wise man is not the one who does not suffer but the one suffering does not bend.
Context and history
Addressed to Lucilius and written under Nero, around AD 64, by a man who would be ordered to kill himself. That the problem of evil is posed by someone it would shortly reach is not a literary coincidence. This entry is the Latin original; the catalogue also carries the English translation as a separate work. Cite the original.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
1. Quaesisti a me, Lucili, quid ita, si prouidentia mundus ageretur, multa bonis uiris mala acciderent. Hoc commodius in contextu operis redderetur, cum praeesse uniuersis prouidentiam probaremus et interesse nobis deum; sed quoniam a toto particulam reuelli placet et unam contradictionem manente lite integra soluere, faciam rem non difficilem, causam deorum agam. 2. Superuacuum 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 uelocita tem 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 grauissimum pondus sedeat inmotum et circa se properantis caeli fugam spectet, ut infusa uallibus maria molliant terras nec ullum incrementum fluminum sentiant, ut ex minimis seminibus nascantur ingentia. 3. Ne illa quidem quae uidentur confusa et incerta, pluuias dico nubesque et elisorum fulminum iactus et incendia ruptis montium uerticibus effusa, tremores labantis soli aliaque quae tumultuosa pars rerum circa terras mouet, sine ratione, quamuis 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 noua insularum in uasto exilientium mari spatia. 4. Iam uero si quis
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