Book 2
23.20
Another topic consists in maintaining that the cause of something which is or has been is something which would generally, or possibly might, be the cause of it; for example, if one were to make a present of something to another, in order to cause him pain by depriving him of it. Whence it has been said: It is not from benevolence that the deity bestows great blessings upon many, but in order that they may suffer more striking calamities.The author is unknown. And these verses from the Meleager of Antiphon: Not in order to slay the monster, but that they may be witnesses to Greece of the valor of Meleager.Frag. 2 (T.G.F. p. 792). And the following remark from the Ajax of Theodectes, that Diomedes chose Odysseus before all others,Hom. Il. 10.218; cp. T.G.F. p. 801. not to do him honor, but that his companion might be his inferior; for this may have been the reason.
