Benevolent, he warns mankind to good,
Urges to toil and prompts the hope of food.
He tells where cattle best may graze, and where
The soil, deep-furrowed, yellow grain will bear.
'Tis his to tell, 'tis his alone to know."
Who, then, shall we believe: Aratus as here quoted; or Sophocles, when he says:[1]
"And foresight of the future there is none;
'Tis best to live at random, as one can"?
And Homer, again, does not agree with this, for he says[2] that virtue
"Waxes or wanes in men as Jove decrees."
And Simonides says:
"No man nor state has virtue save from God;
Counsel resides in God; and wretched man
Has in himself nought but his wretchedness."
So, too, Euripides:
"Apart from God, there's nothing owned by men."
And Menander:
"Save God alone, there's none for us provides."
And Euripides again:
"For when God wills to save, all things He'll bend
To serve as instruments to work His end."
And Thestius:
"If God design to save you, safe you are,
Though sailing in mid-ocean on a mat."[3]
And saying numberless things of a like kind, they contradicted themselves. At least Sophocles, who in another place denied Providence, says:
"No mortal can evade the stroke of God."
Besides, they both introduced a multitude of gods, and yet spoke of a Unity; and against those who affirmed a Providence they maintained in opposition that there was no Providence. Wherefore Euripides says:
"We labour much and spend our strength in vain,
For empty hope, not foresight, is our guide."
