This library is built in the open.
If you spot an error, have a suggestion, or just want to say hello — we’d love to hear from you.

...deeds, is not, as some think, accustomed to be used only in the case of good things. For even this very problem, whether things in the world are governed by some fortune or by providence, is stated according to this common meaning, as is evident from the opposition to fortune. Some, however, contrast not fortune, but spontaneity with providence, signifying the same thing by each term. Moreover, it is often said by philosophers that the world is governed by the providence of the best, with them adding "of the best," because they understand that the name of providence is common to both the worse and the better. If, therefore, providence is spoken of according to this common meaning, it is clear that it has been named from "thinking" before something "is." The name of "precognition" (prognosis) has the same origin. For as many things as, being perceptible in their own nature, we discover from certain signs, we reasonably say that we "foresee" (pronoien), as if we were to say that we "think" of them before seeing them. And it seems to me that the providence which is spoken of in opposition to fortune is not said...