language, though they do not study the books that were composed on this science; yet it is only casually, and very rarely, that they commit mistakes or errors according to the principles of the language. One is not to condemn or to blame them for that, for even in the works of nature casual mistakes are sometimes found. This power of theirs with which they were endowed by nature caused them to neglect and disregard the study of the books devoted to the science of language, which are accounted by them as things of nought and confusion. XXXVIII. SIMON B. ZEMAH DURAN [Rabbinical authority and philosopher. He was born at the island of Majorca in 1361, and died in 1444. He lived for some time in Algiers. His literary activity was devoted to philosophy, Bible, and Talmud, and his best known work is _Magen Abot_ (Shield of the Fathers), which is a theological-philosophical treatise.] On the Problem Why the Wicked Prosper and the Righteous Are in Distress[228] Indeed the difficulty about the wicked man who is prosperous seems to be no difficulty at all. For God, who is blessed, is good, and bestows good upon all. He does not withhold good from the wicked, just as He does not withhold from the lions their claws wherewith they tear their prey, for they are needed for the acquisition of their food. In all this the philosopher and the theologian concur; there is no difference between them. The only difference between them is that the philosopher cannot believe that divine Providence should attach itself to an individual, to save him from evils for his righteousness, or to withhold bliss from him for his wickedness; while the theologian believes that Providence attaches itself to an individual just as it attaches itself to the entire species which is permanent. For an individual man’s intellect is as permanent as the species, and hence Providence attaches itself to him, just as it attaches itself to the species. There is a very subtle speculation in this. For it is known that the species exist only in the intellect, and that nothing but individuals actually exist. Aristotle, however, in his _Metaphysics_ has explained that the matter is quite the reverse, that the individuals create the species in their intellects, through repetition.[229] Now since the species have no actual existence, and Providence can only attach itself to that which has actual existence, what is the cause of their permanence according to the philosopher? For he is of the opinion that Providence attaches itself only to that which has permanence, and the species is the only thing that has permanence; but the species has no existence, and Providence cannot attach itself to that which has no existence. He therefore says that Providence is confined to the spheres, stars, and separate intelligences, and that the species are preserved through the influence that emanates from them to this mental existence.