ed event of
concurring causes in those things which are done to some end and
purpose. Now the cause why causes so concur and meet so together, is
that order proceeding with inevitable connexion, which, descending from
the fountain of Providence, disposeth all things in their places and
times.

[166] _Phys._ ii. 4.

I.

Rupis Achaemeniae scopulis ubi uersa sequentum
Pectoribus figit spicula pugna fugax,
Tigris et Euphrates uno se fonte resoluunt
Et mox abiunctis dissociantur aquis.
Si coeant cursumque iterum reuocentur in unum, 5
Confluat alterni quod trahit unda uadi;
Conuenient puppes et uulsi flumine trunci
Mixtaque fortuitos implicet unda modos,
Quos tamen ipsa uagos terrae decliuia casus
Gurgitis et lapsi defluus ordo regit. 10
Sic quae permissis fluitare uidetur habenis
Fors patitur frenos ipsaque lege meat."

I.

In the Achaemenian rocks, where Parthians with their darts
In their dissembled flight do wound their enemies,
Tigris from the same head doth with Euphrates rise,
And forthwith they themselves divide in several parts;
But if they join again, and them one channel bound,
Bringing together all that both their waves do bear;
The ships and trees, whose roots they from the bank do tear,
Will meet, and they their floods will mingle and confound,
Yet run this wandering course in places which are low,
And in these sliding streams a settled law remains.[167]
So fortune, though it seems to run with careless reins,
Yet hath it certain rule, and doth in order flow."

[167] Lit. "Yet all these (apparently) random happenings are governed by
the shelving ground and the flowing course of the stream as it runs."

II.

"Animaduerto," inquam, "idque, uti tu dicis, ita esse consentio. Sed in hac
haerentium sibi serie causarum estne ulla nostri arbitrii libertas an ipsos
quoque humanorum motus animorum fatalis catena constringit?" "Est," inquit,
"neque enim fuerit ulla rationalis natura quin eidem libertas adsit
arbitrii. Nam quod ratione uti naturaliter potest id habet iudicium quo
quidque discernat; per se igitur fugienda optandaue dinoscit. Quod uero
quis optandum esse iudicat petit; refugit uero quod aestimat esse
fugiendum. Quare quibus in ipsis inest ratio, inest etiam uolendi
nolendique libertas. Sed hanc non in omnibus aequam esse constituo. Nam
supernis diuinisque subst