If the gods have determined about me and about the things which must happen to me, DOGMAthey have determined well, for it is not easy even to imagine a deity without forethought; and as to doing me harm, why should they have any desire towards that? For what advantage would result to them from this or to the whole, which is the special object of their TERMprovidence? But if they have not determined about me individually, they have certainly determined about the whole at least, and the things which happen by way of sequence in this general arrangement I ought to DOGMAaccept with pleasure and to be content with them. But if they determine about nothing—which it is wicked to believe, or if we do believe it, let us neither sacrifice nor pray nor swear by them nor do anything else which we do as if the gods were present and lived with us—but if however the gods determine about none of the things which concern us, I am able to determine about myself, and I can inquire about that which is useful; and that is useful to every man which is conformable to his own constitution and nature. But my TERMnature is rational and social; and my city and country, so far as I am Antoninus, is Rome, but DOGMAso far as I am a man, it is the world. The things then which are useful to these cities are alone useful to me.

If the gods deliberated about me and about what must befall me, DOGMAthey deliberated well; a god without forethought is not even easy to conceive — and for what cause would they have set out to harm me? What would they, or the common good, of which they are chiefly TERMprovident, gain by it? And if they did not deliberate about me individually, they surely deliberated about the common things; and what befalls me by sequence within that, I ought to DOGMAwelcome and love. But if they deliberate about nothing — which it is impious to believe (else let us neither sacrifice nor pray nor swear, nor do the other things we do as toward gods present and living with us) — yet even so I can deliberate about myself, and my concern is the inquiry into what is beneficial. Beneficial to each is what accords with its own constitution and nature; and TERMmy nature is rational and civic. As Antoninus¹, my city and country is Rome; DOGMAas a human being, it is the cosmos. The things useful to these two cities are alone good for me.