I always said that there were gods on high,To be sure he proceeds to give the reason for his opinion in succeeding lines, but there is no need to repeat them. Enough has been shown to make it clear that your Stoic friends assume as certain what is the subject of doubt and discussion.
And this I never will neglect to say;
But my opinion is they do not care
What destiny befalls the human race.
[104]
You see how Epicurus proceeds from admitted premises to the proposition to be established. But this you Stoic
logicians do not do; for you not only do not assume
premises which everybody concedes, but you even
assume premises which, if granted, do not tend in
the least to establish what you wish to prove. For
you start with this assumption: ' If there are gods
they are kindly disposed towards men.' Now who
will grant you that? Epicurus? But he says that
the gods do not trouble a whit about themselves or
[p. 489]
about anybody else. Is it our own Ennius? But
he says with general approval and applause1
1 In his Telamon. The succeeding line is quoted in Cic. N.D. iii. 32. 79 nam si curent, bene bonis sit, male malis; quod nunc abest.
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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