Note 82 — Chapter VI · THE STUDY OF NATURE. FUNDAMENTAL POSITIONS.
Oswald J. (Oswald Joseph) Reichel translation
(a) Existence of physical evil. The existence of physical evil gave the Stoics little trouble, since they refused to regard it as an evil at all, as will be seen in treating of their ethical system. It was enough for them to refer evils of this kind—diseases, for instance—to natural causes, and to regard them as the inevitable consequences of causes framed by nature to serve a definite purpose.82 Still, they did not fail to point out that many things only become evil by a perverted use,83 and that other things, ordinarily regarded as evils, are of the greatest value.84