xxxvn COURSE OF FATE 85 



of worshippers if they employ prayer to heaven and 

 take vows upon them. This, then, is so far from 

 being opposed to fate that it is actually a part of fate. 

 But my opponent argues thus : an event is either 2 

 going or is not going to take place. If it is going 

 to, then it will take place, even though you take no 

 vows upon you. If it is not going to, then it won t, 

 even though you take the vows. The dilemma, I 

 reply, is no valid one : you overlook an alternative 

 that lies between those horns of yours. This, say 

 I, will take place, but not unless vows have been 

 taken upon those concerned. This, too, one may 

 say, must be included in the order of fate, either 

 that you undertake the vows or that you do not. 



XXXVIII 



SUPPOSE that I surrender at discretion and admit i 

 that it is likewise included in fate that vows be 

 assuredly performed. Then for that reason they 

 will be performed. It is fated that a man be 

 eloquent, but only if he use due means and apply 

 himself to study. The same destiny enjoins that 

 he should study ; therefore he will study. Another 

 will be rich, but he must first go to sea. But in 

 the order of fate in which he is promised a great 

 fortune, it is also decreed that he go to sea ; there 

 fore he will go to sea. In regard to expiation, I 2 

 apply just the same principle. A man is fated to 

 escape danger if he expiate the threats foretold by 

 heaven. But it is likewise contained in fate that 

 he offer expiation ; therefore he will offer it. 



An objection is usually urged against this view 

 which seeks to prove that no freedom of will is on 



