Note 123 — Chapter XIII · THE RELATION OF THE STOIC PHILOSOPHY TO RELIGION.

Sen. Nat. Qu. ii. 32, 3: Nimis illum [Deum] otiosum et pusillæ rei ministrum facis, si aliis somnia aliis exta, disponit. Ista nihilominus divina ope geruntur. Sed non a Deo pennæ avium reguntur nec pecudum viscera sub securi formantur. Alia ratione fatorum series explicatur … quicquid fit alicujus rei futuræ signum est … cujus rei ordo est etiam prædictio est, &c. Cic. Divin. i. 52, 118, after the passage quoted, p. 371, 3: Sed ita a principio inchoatum esse mundum, ut certis rebus certa signa præcurrerent, alia in extis, alia in avibus, &c. Posidonius, ibid. 55, 125 (see p. 373, 2). Nor was the meaning otherwise, when portents (according to Cic. Divin. ii. 15, 33; 69, 142) were based on a συμπάθεια τῆς φύσεως (on which see p. 183, 2), an opponent not without reason doubting whether it existed, for instance, between a rent in the liver of a victim and an advantageous business, or between an egg in a dream and treasure trove. ↑