HKB
6 passages · search this phrase →
Often appears with: providence and divine governance · the problem of evil and theodicy · the nature and attributes of God · tolerating vice · theology of love and virtue · the rise and fall of greatness · the fear of death · the city and urban life · roman virtue · renouncing attachment to places · popular displeasure · political legitimacy and consent
Usually: argument (2) · dialogue (2) · injustice endured (2) · exhortation (2) · wonder (2) · description (1) · reflection (1) · exile and homecoming (1) · grief and loss (1) · curiosity (1)
“A king should generally have nothing so much at heart as to keep his subjects free from oppression.” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Freiherr von, Theodicy · precept
“Thou grieve them? Never; but that shall grieve them which grieveth thee—Opinion.” Epictetus (trans. T. W. Rolleston), The Teaching of Epictetus · insight
“Guilt's deserved punishment Falleth on the innocent; High uplifted, the profanest On the just their malice vent.” Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy · observation
Plutarch repeats that God governs by persuasive reason rather than force, then turns to Cato the Younger as an example of virtue that displeases the people yet ultimately helps the commonwealth survive.
and most harmonious. For thus we are taught even God governs the world, not by irresistible force, but persuasive argument and reason, controlling it into compliance with his eternal purposes. Cato the younger is a similar instance. His manners were little agreeable or acceptable to the people, and he received very slender marks of their favor; witness his repulse when he sued for the consulship, which he lost, as …
Dante sees a point of dazzling light surrounded by concentric circles and is taught that heavens’ size varies by the degree of virtue and love, culminating in angels singing to the fixed ‘Ubi’ of divine governance.
In similar wise my memory recollecteth That I did, looking into those fair eyes, Of which Love made the springes to ensnare me. And as I turned me round, and mine were touched By that which is apparent in that volume, Whenever on its gyre we gaze intent, A point beheld I, that was raying out Light so acute, the sight which it enkindles Must close perforce before such great acuteness. And whatsoever…
Responding to Bayle’s maxims, Leibniz denies the analogy that God would ‘crush vice before birth’; unlike a human king, God never errs and his governance permits evils for the good of the whole.
things possible what produced the best effect together, and since vice entered in by this door, God would not have been altogether good, altogether wise if he had excluded it. [199] 125. X. 'The way to evince the greatest hatred for vice is not indeed to allow it to prevail for a long time and then chastise it, but to crush it before its birth, that is, prevent it from showing itself anywhere. A king, for example, w…
Boethius prays, asking the sovereign ruler whether only humans are despised, condemning fortune’s false justice that punishes the innocent and elevates the wicked.
Thou disdainest Only man? 'Gainst him, poor thrall, Wanton Fortune plays her vainest. Guilt's deserved punishment Falleth on the innocent; High uplifted, the profanest On the just their malice vent. 'Virtue cowers in dark retreats, Crime's foul stain the righteous beareth, Perjury and false deceits Hurt not him the wrong who dareth; But whene'er the wicked trust In ill strength to wor…
Philosophy diagnoses that Boethius is wretched because he mistakes banishment and has forgotten his own nature and the end of existence, and she promises milder remedies to soften his anger.
ALL THINGS HAVE THEIR NEEDFUL ORDER He who to th' unwilling furrows Gives the generous grain, When the Crab with baleful fervours Scorches all the plain; He shall find his garner bare, Acorns for his scanty fare. Go not forth to cull sweet violets From the purpled steep, While the furious blasts of winter Through the valleys sweep; Nor the grape o'erhasty bring To the…
Continuing the same counsel, he argues against craving specific places like Athens, insists that lasting satisfaction comes from perceiving divine governance, and compares grief to children crying over lost familiar things.
as in a game, stay only so long as he is entertained? A man of this stamp would easily endure such a thing as perpetual exile or sentence of death. Wilt thou not now be weaned as children are, and take more solid food, nor cry any more after thy mother and nurse, wailing like an old woman? ----"But if I quit them I shall grieve them." Thou grieve them? Never; but that shall grieve them which grieveth thee--Opinion…