Cicero and Job: De Natura Deorum
I have a bit of insomnia, so I decided to finish reading Cicero's De Natura Deorum ("On the Nature of the Gods"), and, having just taught Job not too long ago, the following passage caught my eye: Either God wishes to remove evils and cannot, or he can do so and is unwilling, or he has neither the will nor the power, or he has both the will and the power. If he has the will but not the power, he is a weakling, and this is not characteristic of God. If he has the power but not the will, he is grudging, and this is a traight equally foreign to God. If he has neither the will nor the power, he is both grudging and weak, and is therefore not divine. IF he has both the will and the power (and this is the sole circumstance appropriate to God), what is the source of evils, or why does God not dispel them? ( De Natura Deorum 3.65; Trans. P.G. Walsh) Unfortunately, this passage appears in a portion of the MSS that is riddled with lacunae. Just after this passage, there is su...