“Nay,” said Media; “pause, Babbalanja. Turn it not adrift prematurely. Let it house till midnight; the proper time for you mortals to dissolve. But, philosopher, if you harp upon Vee-Vee’s mishap, know that it was owing to nothing but his carelessness.”
“And what was that owing to, my lord?”
“To Vee-Vee himself.”
“Then, my lord, what brought such a careless being into Mardi?”
“A long course of generations. He’s some one’s great-great-grandson, doubtless; who was great-great-grandson to some one else; who also had grandsires.”
“Many thanks then to your highness; for you establish the doctrine of Philosophical Necessity.”
“No. I establish nothing; I but answer your questions.”
“All one, my lord: you are a Necessitarian; in other words, you hold that every thing takes place through absolute necessity.”
“Do you take me, then, for a fool, and a Fatalist? Pardie! a bad creed for a monarch, the distributor of rewards and punishments.”
“Right there, my lord. But, for all that, your highness is a Necessitarian, yet no Fatalist. Confound not the distinct. Fatalism presumes express and irrevocable edicts of heaven concerning particular events. Whereas, Necessity holds that all events are naturally linked, and inevitably follow each other, without providential interposition, though by the eternal letting of Providence.”