Either the Gods have power or they have none. If they have no power, why do you pray? If they have power, why do you not choose to pray to them for power neither to fear, nor to desire, nor to be grieved over any of these external things, rather than for their presence or their absence? Surely, if the Gods can aid man at all, they can aid him in this. But perhaps you will say ‘the Gods have put this in my own power.’ Then is it not better to use that which is in your own power and preserve your liberty, than to set your heart on what is beyond your power and become an abject slave? And who has told you that the Gods aid us not in these things also which are in our power? Begin to pray about them and you will see. One man prays: ‘May I possess that woman!’ Do you pray: ‘May I have no wish to possess her!’ Another prays: ‘May I be delivered from so and so!’ Pray you: ‘May I not need to be delivered from him!’ A third cries: ‘May I not lose my child!’ Let your prayer be: ‘May I not fear to lose him!’ In fine, turn your prayers this way, and observe what comes of it.
Text matched to linked transcription; typography normalized.
Either the gods have no power, or they do. If they have no power, why do you pray? But if they do, why not pray that they give you freedom from fearing, desiring, or grieving over any of these things, rather than that one of them be absent or present? Certainly, if the gods can cooperate with human beings, they can cooperate toward these ends.
Perhaps you will say, “The gods placed these things in my power.” Then is it not better to use what is in your power freely than to be carried toward what is not in your power slavishly and abjectly? And who told you that the gods do not assist us even with what is in our power? Begin, then, to pray about these things, and you will see.
One person prays, “How may I sleep with that woman?” You: “How may I not desire to sleep with her?” Another: “How may I be rid of that person?” You: “How may I not need to be rid of him?” Another: “How may I not lose my little child?” You: “How may I not fear losing the child?” In short, turn your prayers in this direction and observe what happens.
An aid to reading that has not received independent specialist review. About this rendering
Sources & notes
Historical editions may include surrounding context or use different phrasing. Parallel columns compare passages; their lines are not word-for-word alignments.