Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ χρὴ προσδοκᾶν καὶ θεὸν ἡμῖν παρέσεσθαι πάντως καὶ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς αὑτοῖς συνέσεσθαι, τὸ λίαν δυσχερὲς ἀφαιρετέον ἐστι τῆς λύπης. ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα μόνον ἐν τῇ νήσῳ καθειργμένον ἑπτὰ τοὺς πάντας ἐνιαυτούς, εἶτ᾽ ὀδυρόμενον, τῆς μὲν ἄλλης ἐπαινῶ καρτερίας, τῶν θρήνων δὲ οὐκ ἄγαμαι. [250] τί γὰρ ὄφελος πόντον ἐπ᾽ ἰχθυόεντα δέρκεσθαι καὶ λείβειν δάκρυα; τὸ δὲ μὴ προέσθαι μηδ᾽ ἀπαγορεῦσαι πρὸς τὴν τύχην, ἀλλ᾽ ἄνδρα μέχρις ἐσχάτων γενέσθαι πόνων(346) καὶ κινδύνων, τοῦτο ἔμοιγε φαίνεται μεῖζον ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον. οὐ δὴ δίκαιον ἐπαινεῖν μὲν αὐτούς, μὴ μιμεῖσθαι δέ, οὐδὲ νομίζειν, ὡς ἐκείνοις μὲν ὁ θεὸς προθύμως συνελάμβανε, [B] τοὺς δὲ νῦν περιόψεται τῆς ἀρετῆς ὁρῶν ἀντιποιουμένους, δι᾽ ἥνπερ ἄρα κἀκείνοις ἔχαιρεν· οὐ γὰρ διὰ τὸ κάλλος τοῦ σώματος, ἐπεί τοι τὸν Νιρέα μᾶλλον ἐχρῆν ἀγαπᾶσθαι, οὐδὲ διὰ τὴν ἰσχύν, ἀπείρῳ γὰρ ὅσῳ Λαιστρυγόνες καὶ Κύκλωπες ἦσαν αὐτοῦ κρείττους, οὐδὲ διὰ τὸν πλοῦτον, οὕτω γὰρ ἂν ἔμεινεν ἀπόρθητος Τροία. τί δὲ δεῖ πράγματα ἔχειν αὐτὸν ἐπιζητοῦντα τὴν αἰτίαν, δι ἣν Ὀδυσσέα φησὶν [C] ὁ ποιητὴς θεοφιλῆ, αὐτοῦ γε ἐξὸν ἀκούειν; (It follows therefore that since we may expect that God will be present with us in all our doings, and that we shall again renew our intercourse, our grief must lose its sharpest sting. For indeed in the case of Odysseus(347) too, who was imprisoned on the island for all those seven years and then bewailed his lot, I applaud him for his fortitude on other occasions, but I do not approve those lamentations. For of what avail was it for him to gaze on the fishy sea and shed tears?(348) Never to abandon hope and despair of one’s fate, but to play the hero in the extremes of toil and danger, does indeed seem to me more than can be expected of any human being. But it is not right to praise and not to imitate the Homeric heroes, or to think that whereas God was ever ready to assist them he will disregard the men of our day, if he sees that they are striving to attain that very virtue for which he favoured those others. For it was not physical beauty that he favoured, since in that case Nireus(349) would have been more approved; nor strength, for the Laëstrygons(350) and the Cyclops were infinitely stronger than Odysseus; nor riches, for had that been so Troy would never have been sacked. But why should I myself labour to discover the reason why the poet says that Odysseus was beloved by the gods, when we can hear it from himself? It was) Οὕνεκ᾽ ἐπητής ἐσσι καὶ ἀγχίνοος καὶ ἐχέφρων. (“Because thou art so wary, so ready of wit, so prudent.”(351)) δῆλον οὖν ὡς, εἴπερ ἡμῖν ταῦτα προσγένοιτο, τὸ κρεῖττον οὐκ ἐλλείψει τὰ παρ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸν δοθέντα πάλαι ποτὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις χρησμὸν καλούμενός τε καὶ ἄκλητος ὁ θεὸς παρέσται. (It is therefore evident that if we have these qualities in addition, God on His side will not fail us, but in the words of the oracle once given of old to the Lacedaemonians, “Invoked or not invoked, God will be present with us.”(352))