De consolatione ethnica et christiana, censura theologica

...the same philosophy provided better forms of consolation to the human race. For it wisely shows that we ought to consider not only that evil is not great, as Cicero warned, but also that good is great. And we like the judgment of Cicero in Tusculan Disputations 4. 8: "Chrysippus and the Stoics, when they dispute about the perturbations of the mind, are occupied for a great part in partitioning and defining these; that speech of theirs is very small with which they heal minds, and do not allow them to be turbulent. But the Peripatetics bring forth many things for appeasing the mind."

Aristotle said excellently: ἐν ταῖς δυσυχίαις λάμπει τὸ καλόν In misfortunes, the beautiful shines forth. Yet grace shines through the very troubles. It does not shine, however, without consolation, the two sources of which are Evil and Good: if, I say, you evaluate both correctly.

And if that saying of Diodorus Siculus, which exists in the 12th book of the Historical Library, may seem a paradox: Ἀτυχέως αὐτὶς ἀπορήσειν ἐπιστήσας τὸν νοῦν τῇ κατὰ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον ἀνωμαλίᾳ. ὅτε γὰρ τῶ νομιζομένων ἀγαθῶν οὐδὲν ὅληκλερον εὑρήσεται δεδομένων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ὅτε τῶ κακῶν αὐτοτελὲς αὐσυ τινὸς σύγχυσίας He will be troubled by his own misfortune, having applied his mind to the unevenness of human life. For neither will anything be found as purely good among the things considered to be goods given to men, nor anything purely evil, due to a certain confusion of all things; if, however, it is correctly considered, it will be manifest that it was spoken prudently and truly.

Against the evils that are accustomed to infest human life, the Peripatetics have exhibited these remedies for consolation:
1. That there is no extreme and perpetual evil in this life, since, as Theophrastus said, a short space of life is granted to each; but no evil exceeds the span of life.
2. That goods are mixed with evils. Where there is honey, there is gall; where there is the udder, there is the tuber. Therefore, the opinion of Euripides is approved, who posits a σύγκρασιν mixture/blending of goods and evils.
3. That from evils, uncommon fruits return to sensible men. For to these, the τά παθήματα sufferings become μαθήματα lessons.
4. Even if it is granted that human life has more aloe than honey, yet there is not much less need for the bitterness of the former than for the sweetness of the latter.
5. That sad events are not rarely, by accident, the causes of good, which otherwise would have been lacking; and προφυλακτικὰ prophylactics/precautions against evils that would otherwise have had to be undergone.
6. That the human lot is not to be avoided. For great is...