" Forthwith Tiberius embraced him, congratulated him "upon his
foresight of perils, and his security from them;" and esteeming his
predictions as so many oracles, held him thenceforward in the rank of his
most intimate friends.
For myself, while I listen to these and the like relations, my judgment
wavers, whether things human are in their course and rotation determined
by Fate and immutable necessity, or left to roll at random. For upon this
subject the wisest of the ancients and those addicted to their Sects, are
of opposite sentiments. [Footnote: The Epicureans.] Many are of opinion
"that to the Gods neither the generation of us men nor our death, and in
truth neither men nor the actions of men, are of any importance or
concernment: and thence such numberless calamities afflict the upright,
while pleasure and prosperity surround the wicked." Others [Footnote: The
Stoics.] hold the contrary position, and believe "a Fate to preside over
events; a fate however not resulting from wandering stars, but coeval with
the first principles of things, and operating by the continued connection
of natural causes.
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