"For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."
In his Tenth, or Golden Satire, Juvenal comes to a like conclusion, after having indulged in like speculations:
Nil ergò optabunt homines? Si consilium vis,
Permittes ipsis expendere numinibus, quid
Conveniat nobis, rebusque sit utile nostris.
Nam pro jucundis aptissama quæque dabunt diis
Carior est illis homo, quàm sibi.
The Epicurean Horace, in his first Satire, sees the same difficulty, but gives a less satisfactory solution:
Est modus in rebus; sunt certi denique fines,
Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum.
Burke's beautiful words, "What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!" convey the same thought, without attempting a solution.
Shakspeare employs the profoundest philosophy, to assail all philosophy:
"There are more things in heaven and earth,
Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
The infidel, Voltaire, admits that "philosophy had ascertained few truths, done little good;" and when he sums up that little, satisfies the reader that it has done nothing—unless it be to perplex and mislead.