[380b]
did was righteous and good, and they were benefited1 by their chastisement. But
that they were miserable who paid the penalty, and that the doer of this was
God, is a thing that the poet must not be suffered to say; if on the other
hand he should say that for needing chastisement the wicked were miserable
and that in paying the penalty they were benefited by God, that we must
allow. But as to saying that God, who is good, becomes the cause of evil to
anyone, we must contend in every way that neither should anyone assert this
in his own city if it is to be well governed, nor anyone hear it,
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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