whom many women had sought a divorce, would be held to have
neglected her interests; a man would be thought a bad father if he
entrusted the care of his patrimony to one who had lost his own
family estate, and it would be the act of a madman to make a will
naming as the guardian of one's son a man who had already defrauded
other wards. So will that man be said to bestow benefits as badly
as possible, who chooses ungrateful persons, in whose hands they
will perish.

XXVIII. "The gods," it may be said, "bestow much, even upon the
ungrateful." But what they bestow they had prepared for the good,
and the bad have their share as well, because they cannot be
separated. It is better to benefit the bad as well, for the sake of
benefiting the good, than to stint the good for fear of benefiting
the bad. Therefore the gods have created all that you speak of, the
day, the sun, the alternations of winter and summer, the
transitions through spring and autumn from one extreme to the
other, showers, drinking fountains, and regularly blowing winds for
the use of all alike; they could not except individuals from the
enjoyment of them. A king bestows honours upon those who deserve
them, but he gives largesse to the undeserving as well. The thief,
the bearer of false witness, and the adulterer, alike receive the
public grant of corn, and all are placed on the register without
any examination as to character; good and bad men share alike in
all the other privileges which a man receives, because he is a
citizen, not because he is a good man. God likewise has bestowed
certain gifts upon the entire human race, from which no one is shut
out. Indeed, it could not be arranged that the wind which was fair
for good men should be foul for bad ones, while it is for the good
of all men that the seas should be open for traffic and the kingdom