Juppiter Tragoedus
Lucian of Samosata
Lucian, Vol. 2. Harmon, A. M., editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915.
TIMOCLES Very well. Tell me then, you scoundrel, don’t you think the gods exercise any providence ?
DAMIS Not in the least.
TIMOCLES What’s that you say? Then is all that we see about us uncared for by any providence ?
DAMIS Yes.
TIMOCLES And the administration of the universe is not directed by any god ?
DAMIS No.
TIMOCLES And everything drifts at random?
DAMIS Yes.
TIMOCLES Men, do you hear that and put up with it? Aren’t you going to stone the villain ?
DAMIS Why do you embitter men against me, Timocles? And who are you to get angry on behalf of the gods, especially when they themselves are not angry? They have done me no harm, you see, though they have listened to me long—if indeed they have ears.
TIMOCLES Yes, they have, Damis, they have, and they will punish you some day in the hereafter.