Minucius Felix, Octavius 36
Let no one take comfort or excuse an outcome by appealing to fate. Let chance or fortune be what they may, yet the mind remains free; for this reason a human action is judged, not a person's standing. What else is fate, after all, but what God has determined for each one of us? Since He can foresee the substance of our lives, He even assigns fates according to the merits and qualities of each individual. Thus in us it is not birth that is punished, but the nature of the mind that is punished. That is enough on fate for now: or if a few points are discussed for the present, we will dispute the matter later, more fully and abundantly. As for the fact that most people call us poor, this is not our shame but our glory: the mind is dissolved by luxury, just as it is strengthened by frugality. And yet, who can be poor who does not lack anything, who does not crave what belongs to another, who is rich in God? The one who has many things yet desires more is the poorer man. Still I will say, as I see it: no one can be as poor as the person who is born. Birds live without inheritance and are fed day by day; these things have been born for us, and we possess them all if we do not covet them. Therefore, just as a traveler on a road is happier the lighter he walks, so the one who lifts himself up by poverty is more blessed on this journey of life than the one who sighs under the burden of wealth. And yet, if we considered resources useful, we would ask them from God; certainly He could indulge somewhat, since the whole world is His. But we prefer to despise wealth rather than merely possess it; we desire innocence more, we demand patience more; we prefer to be good rather than prodigal. And what we feel and suffer in the body's human frailties is not punishment but military service. For strength is fortified by weaknesses, and calamity is often the discipline of virtue. Finally, the powers of both mind and body grow dull without the exercise of labor; all your strong men, whom you hold up as examples, flourished renowned for their hardships. And so God both can help us and does not despise us, since He is both the ruler of all and the lover of His own; but in adversities He tests and examines each person, weighs each character through dangers, and even until the final death He searches the human will, secure that nothing can perish for Him. And so, just as gold is tested by fire, so we are tested by dangers.
Latin
Nec de fato quisquam aut solatium captet, aut excuset eventum. Sit sortis fortunae, mens tamen libera est: et ideo actus hominis, non dignitas judicatur. Quid enim aliud est fatum quam quod de unoquoque nostrum Deus fatum est? qui quum possit praescire materiam, pro meritis et qualitatibus singulorum etiam fata determinat. Ita in nobis non genitura plectitur, sed ingenii natura punitur. Ac de fato satis: vel si pauca pro tempore, disputaturi alias et uberius et plenius. Caeterum, quod plerique pauperes dicimur, non est infamia nostra, sed gloria: animus enim, ut luxu solvitur, ita frugalitate firmatur: et tamen, quis potest pauper esse, qui non eget, qui non inhiat alieno, qui Deo dives est? magis pauper ille est qui, quum multa habeat, plura desiderat. Dicam tamen, quemadmodum sentio: nemo tam pauper potest esse, quam natus est. Aves sine patrimonio vivunt, et in diem pascua pascuntur: et haec nobis tamen nata sunt: quae omnia, si non concupiscimus, possidemus. Igitur, ut qui viam terit, eo felicior quo levior incedit, ita beatior in hoc itinere vivendi, qui paupertate se sublevat, non sub divitiarum onere suspirat. Et tamen facultates, si utiles putaremus, a Deo posceremus: utique indulgere posset aliquantum, cujus est totum. Sed nos contemnere malumus opes quam continere; innocentiam magis cupimus, magis patientiam flagitamus; malumus nos bonos esse quam prodigos. Et, quod corporis humana vitia sentimus et patimur, non est poena, militia est. Fortitudo enim infirmitatibus roboratur, et calamitas saepius disciplina virtutis est. Vires denique et mentis et corporis sine laboris exercitatione torpescunt: omnes adeo vestri viri fortes, quos in exemplum praedicatis, aerumnis suis incluti floruerunt. Itaque et nobis Deus nec non potest subvenire, nec despicit, quum sit et omnium rector et amator suorum; sed in adversis unumquemque explorat et examinat: ingenium singolorum periculis pensitat; usque ad extremam mortem, voluntatem hominis sciscitatur, nihil sibi posse perire securus. Itaque, ut aurum ignibus, sic nos discriminibus arguimur.