''De Providentia'' (''On Providence'') is a short
essay
An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...
in the form of a
dialogue in six brief sections, written by the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
philosopher Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
(died AD 65) in the last years of his life. He chose the dialogue form (as in the well-known
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
's works) to deal with the problem of the co-existence of the
Stoic
Stoic may refer to:
* An adherent of Stoicism; one whose moral quality is associated with that school of philosophy
* STOIC, a programming language
* ''Stoic'' (film), a 2009 film by Uwe Boll
* ''Stoic'' (mixtape), a 2012 mixtape by rapper T-Pain
* ...
design of
providence with the evil in the world—the so-called "
problem of evil
The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,The Problem of Evil, Michael TooleyThe Internet Encycl ...
."
Dating and title
The work cannot be precisely dated, but since it is addressed to
Lucilius, who is the addressee of some of Seneca's final works including his ''
Letters
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
'', and since the essay has similarities to letters 106, 108, and 109
then the work is usually considered a late one dating to around 64 AD.
The full title of the work is ''Quare bonis viris multa mala accidant, cum sit providentia'' ("Why do misfortunes happen to good men, if providence exists"). This longer title reflects the true theme of the essay which is not so much concerned with
providence but with
theodicy
Theodicy () means vindication of God. It is to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil, thus resolving the issue of the problem of evil. Some theodicies also address the problem of evil "to make the existence of ...
and the question of why bad things happen to good people.
Contents
The dialogue is opened by
Lucilius complaining with his friend Seneca that adversities and misfortunes can happen to good men too. How can this fit with the goodness connected with the design of providence? Seneca answers according to the Stoic point of view. Nothing actually bad can happen to the good man (the wise man) because opposites don't mix. What looks like adversity is in fact a means by which the man exerts his virtues. As such, he can come out of the ordeal stronger than before.
So, in perfect harmony with the Stoic
philosophy, Seneca explains that the truly wise man can never surrender in the face of misfortunes but as he will always go through them and even if he should fall he will continue fighting on his knees ("''si cecidit de genu pugnat''").
The wise man understands
destiny
Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.
Fate
Although often ...
and its design, and therefore he has nothing to fear from the future. Neither does he hope for anything, because he already has everything he needs—his good behaviour.
The conclusion is that actually nothing bad happens to good men. One just has to understand what ''bad'' means: ''bad'' for the wise man would be to have bad thoughts, to commit crimes, to desire money or fame. Whoever behaves wisely already has all the good possible.
Text
Translations
* John Davie (2007), ''Seneca: Dialogues and Essays''. Oxford World Classics.
* Elaine Fantham, Harry M. Hine, James Ker, Gareth D. Williams (2014). ''Seneca: Hardship and Happiness''. University of Chicago Press.
* Peter J. Anderson (2015), ''Seneca: Selected Dialogues and Consolations''. Hackett Publishing.
References
External links
*
*
*
''De Providentia''– Latin text at gmu.edu
''De Providentia''– Latin text at thelatinlibrary.com
''De Providentia''– English text translated by Lamberto Bozzi (2016)
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Philosophy essays
Philosophical works by Seneca the Younger