CONTRA FATUM

"Of all these things daemons are the direct creators; like public executioners, they have received power by a divine appointment to bring about these catastrophes at certain times, either for the conversion of men when they drift towards the flood of evil, or with the object of training the race of rational beings. The purpose is that those who remain religious even in such great disasters and do not become worse may reveal their true character to the onlookers, visible and invisible[...]" (Con. Cel. VIII,31)

"If anyone mentions those things which are loosely described as evils, namely physical and external evils, we may grant that sometimes God has made some of these in order that by this means he may convert certain men. [...] we say that the the father does evil to his sons or that schoolmasters or teachers or doctors do so [...] evil has concrete form [...] For He creates physical and external evils to purify and educate those who are unwilling to be educated by reason and sound teaching." (Con. Cel. VI,56)

"[...]while God preserves the free will of each man He makes use of the evil of bad men for the ordering of the whole, making them useful to the universe; yet such a man is none the less guilty, and as such he has been appointed to perform a function which is repulsive to the individual but beneficial to the whole." (Con. Cel. IV,70)

"Each person's mind is responsible for the evil which exists in him, and this is what evil is. Evils are the actions which result from it. In our view nothing else is strictly speaking evil. However, I know that the problem requires an extended discussion and argument which, by the grace of God illuminating the mind, can be done by one who is judged by God to be worthy even of knowledge of this subject." (Con. Cel. IV,66)

"[...]in our view no one will be able to know the origin of evils if he has not realized that it is an evil to suppose that piety is preserved by keeping the established laws of states in the ordinary sense of the word." (Con. Cel. IV,65)