of the World.
And the elements, though they can be changed, cannot be destroyed.
Again, everything destructible is changed by time and grows old. But the
world through all these years has remained utterly unchanged.

Having said so much for the help of those who feel the need of very
strong demonstrations, I pray the World himself to be gracious to me.

XVIII. _Why there are rejections of God, and that God is not injured._

Nor need the fact that rejections of God have taken place in certain
parts of the earth and will often take place hereafter, disturb the mind
of the wise: both because these things do not affect the gods, just as
we saw that worship did not benefit them; and because the soul, being of
middle essence, cannot be always right; and because the whole world
cannot enjoy the providence of the gods equally, but some parts may
partake of it eternally, some at certain times, some in the primal
manner, some in the secondary. Just as the head enjoys all the senses,
but the rest of the body only one.

For this reason, it seems, those who ordained Festivals ordained also
Forbidden Days, in which some temples lay idle, some were shut, some had
their adornment removed, in expiation of the weakness of our nature.

It is not unlikely, too, that the rejection of God is a kind of
punishment: we may well believe that those who knew the gods and
neglected them in one life may in another life be deprived of the
knowledge of them altogether. Also those who have worshipped their own
kings as gods have deserved as their punishment to lose all knowledge of
God.

XIX. _Why sinners are not punished at once._

There is no need to be surprised if neither these sins nor yet others
bring immediate punishment upon sinners. For it is not only
Spirits[223:1] who punish the soul, the Soul brings itself to judgement:
and also it is not right for those who endure for ever to attain
everything in a short time: and also, there is need of human virtue. If
punishment followed instantly upon sin, men would act justly from fear
and have no virtue.

Souls are punished when they have gone forth from the body, some
wandering among us, some going to hot or cold places of the earth, some
harassed by Spirits. Under all circumstances they suffer with the
irrational part of their nature, with which they also sinned. For its
sake[224:1] there subsist that shadowy body which is seen about graves,
especially the graves of evil livers.

XX