Ch. 11
Certain miscellaneous matters
THERE are certain penalties fixed as by law for those who
disobey the divine administration.490 Whoever thinks any
other thing to be good except those things which depend
on the will, let him envy, let him desire, let him flatter,
let him be perturbed: whoever considers any thing else to
be evil, let him grieve, let him lament, let him weep, let
him be unhappy. And yet, though so severely punished,
we cannot desist.
Remember what the poet491 says about the stranger:
Stranger, I must not, e'en if a worse man come.
This then may be applied even to a father: I must not,
even if a worse man than you should come, treat a father
unworthily; for all are from paternal Zeus. And (let the
same be said) of a brother, for all are from the Zeus who
presides over kindred. And so in the other relations of
life we shall find Zeus to be an inspector.