Ch. 14
That all things are under the divine supervision.
When a person asked him, how any one might
be convinced that his every act is under the
supervision of God? Do not you think, said Epictetus, that all things are mutually connected and
united?
"I do."
Well; and do not you think that things on earth
feel the influence of the heavenly powers?
"Yes."
Else how is it that in their season, as if by express
command, God bids the plants to blossom and they
blossom, to bud and they bud, to bear fruit and they
bear it, to ripen it and they ripen; and when again
he bids them drop their leaves, and withdrawing into
themselves to rest and wait, they rest and wait?
Whence again are there seen, on the increase and decrease of the moon, and the approach and departure
of the sun, so great changes and transformations in
earthly things? Have, then, the very leaves, and our
own bodies, this connection and sympathy with the
whole, and have not our souls much more? But
our souls are thus connected and intimately joined to
God, as being indeed members and distinct portions
of his essence; and must he not be sensible of every
movement of them, as belonging and connatural to
himself? Can even you think of the divine administration, and every other divine subject, and together
with these of human affairs also; can you at once receive impressions on your senses and your understanding from a thousand objects; at once assent to some
things, deny or suspend your judgment concerning
others, and preserve in your mind impressions from
so many and various objects, by whose aid you can
revert to ideas similar to those which first impressed
you? Can you retain a variety of arts and the memorials of ten thousand things? And is not God capable of surveying all things, and being present with all,
and in communication with all? Is the sun capable
of illuminating so great a portion of the universe, and
of leaving only that small part of it unilluminated,
which is covered by the shadow of the earth, and
cannot He who made and moves the sun, a small part
of himself, if compared with the whole, - cannot he
perceive all things?
"But I cannot," say you, "attend to all things at
once." Who asserts that you have equal power with
Zeus? Nevertheless, he has assigned to each man a
director, his own good genius, and committed him to
that guardianship, - a director sleepless and not to be
deceived. To what better and more careful guardian
could he have committed each one of us? So that
when you have shut your doors, and darkened your
room, remember never to say that you are alone;
for you are not alone, but God is within, and your
genius is within; and what need have they of light
to see what you are doing? To this God you likewise ought to swear such an oath as the soldiers do to
Caesar. For they, in order to receive their pay, swear
to prefer before all things the safety of Caesar; and
will you not swear, who have received so many and so
great favors; or, if you have sworn, will you not fulfil
the oath? And what must you swear? Never to distrust, nor accuse, nor murmur at any of the things appointed by him; nor to shrink from doing or enduring
that which is inevitable. Is this oath like the former
In the first oath persons swear never to dishonor
Caesar: by the last. never to dishonor themselves.