‘If all things are determined by fate, then the ordering of the universe must be smooth and unhindered; if this is so, there must be an ordered universe; and if so, there must be gods. Now if there are gods, the gods are good; and if they are good, goodness exists; and if goodness exists, so also does wisdom. And goodness and wisdom are the same for gods and for men[95]. If this is so, there must be a science of things to be done and to be avoided, that is of right actions and of sins. But right actions are praiseworthy, and sins blameable. Things praiseworthy deserve reward, and things blameable deserve punishment. Therefore if all things are determined by fate, there must be rewards and punishments[96].’ All this chain of argument is convincing to the man who is already a Stoic; to his opponent it seems to display its weakness at every joint. FOOTNOTES [1] The three explanations are very clearly stated by Seneca; ‘dicet aliquis—quid mihi prodest philosophia, si fatum est? quid prodest, si deus rector est? quid prodest, si casus imperat?... quicquid est ex his, Lucili, _vel si omnia haec sunt_, philosophandum est; sive nos inexorabili lege fata constringunt, sive arbiter deus universi cuncta disponit, sive casus res humanas sine ordine impellit et iactat, philosophia nos tueri debet’ Sen. _Ep._ 16, 4 and 5. [2] e.g. _Aen._ vi 376. [3] ‘quod procul a nobis flectat Fortuna gubernans’ _R. N._ v 108. [4] ‘vaga volubilisque Fortuna’ Cic. _Milo_ 26, 69; ‘fortuna ... amica varietati constantiam respuit’ _N. D._ ii 16, 43. [5] Seneca as in note 1. [6] Diog. L. vii 149; ‘[Stoici] omnia fato fieri dicunt’ Cic. _de Fato_ 15, 33. [7] ‘et hoc secundum Stoicos, qui omnia dicunt fato regi et semel constituta nec a numinibus posse mutari’ Comment. in Lucan. ii 306 (Arnim ii 924). [8] So Diog. L. vii 149. Cicero and Seneca describe with admirable clearness the conception of fate: ‘fieri omnia fato ratio cogit fateri. fatum autem id appello, quod Graeci εἱμαρμένην, id est ordinem seriemque causarum, cum causa causae nexa rem ex se gignat’ Cic. _Div._ i 55, 125; ‘quid enim intellegis fatum? existimo necessitatem rerum omnium actionumque, quam nulla vis rumpat’ Sen. _N. Q._ ii 36; cf. _Ep._ 19, 6 and _N. Q._ ii 35, 2. [9] Χρύσιππος μὴ διαφέρειν [εἶπε] τοῦ εἱμαρμένου τὸ κατηναγκασμένον Aët. _plac._ i 27, 2. [10] ‘Stoicorum dogma [Vergilius] ostendit, nulla ratione posse fata mutari’ Serv. _ad Verg. Aen._ i 257 (Arnim ii 923). [11] Orig. _cont. Cels._ ii 20 (Arnim ii 957). [12] Cic. _de Fato_ 12, 28 to 13, 30. [13] Hom. _Il._ xi 192 and 193. [14] Plut. fr. 15, 3 (Stob. ii 8, 25). [15] Cic. _de Fato_ 7, 13. [16] Epict. _Disc._ ii 19, 1 sqq.