have as many titles as he has attributes.

VIII. Our school regards him as Father Liber, and Hercules, and
Mercurius: he is Father Liber because he is the parent of all, who
first discovered the power of seed, and our being led by pleasure
to plant it; he is Hercules, because his might is unconquered, and
when it is wearied after completing its labours, will retire into
fire; he is Mercurius, because in him is reasoning, and numbers,
and system, and knowledge. Whither-soever you turn yourself you
will see him meeting you: nothing is void of him, he himself fills
his own work. Therefore, most ungrateful of mortals, it is in vain
that you declare yourself indebted, not to God, but to nature,
because there can be no God without nature, nor any nature without
God; they are both the same thing, differing only in their
functions. If you were to say that you owe to Annaeus or to Lucius
what you received from Seneca, you would not change your creditor,
but only his name, because he remains the same man whether you use
his first, second, or third name. So whether you speak of nature,
fate, or fortune, these are all names of the same God, using his
power in different ways. So likewise justice, honesty, discretion,
courage, frugality, are all the good qualities of one and the same
mind; if you are pleased with any one of these, you are pleased
with that mind.

IX. However, not to drift aside into a distinct controversy, God
bestows upon us very many and very great benefits without hope of
receiving any return; since he does not require any offering from
us, and we are not capable of bestowing anything upon him:
wherefore, a benefit is desirable in itself. In it the advantage of
the receiver is all that is taken into consideration: we study this