Letter 107 — On Obedience to the Universal Will (§12)

“Let us live thus, and speak thus; let Fate find us ready and alert. Here is your great soul—the man who has given himself over to Fate; on the other hand, that man is a weakling and a degenerate who struggles and maligns the order of the universe and would rather reform the gods than reform himself. Farewell. ↑ Vergil, Aen. vi. 274 f. ↑ Cleanthes, Frag. 527 von Arnim. In Epictetus (Ench. 53) these verses are assigned to Cleanthes (omitting the last line); while St. Augustine (Civ. Dei. v. 8) quotes them as Seneca’s: Annaei Senecae sunt, nisi fallor, hi versus. Wilamowitz and others follow the latter view.”