Philosophical Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Vol. 4

the certain course of the stars is not a matter of chance, and things which are incited by accident 1 are often confused and quickly collide 2: this unhindered velocity proceeds from the command of an eternal law 3, bearing so much on land and sea, so many most brilliant lights 4, shining according to design: this order does not belong to wandering matter 5, nor do things that have joined together at random hang together with such skill that the very heavy weight of the lands sits motionless, and watches the flight of the sky hastening around it; that the seas infused into the valleys soften the lands 6, and feel no increase from the rivers 7; that huge things are born from the smallest seeds 8. Nor do those things which seem confused and uncertain...