On Fate Passage 43

'Ut igitur', inquit, qui protrusit cylindrum, dedit ei principium motionis, volubilitatem autem non dedit, sic visum obiectum inprimet illud quidem et quasi signabit in animo suam speciem, sed adsensio nostra erit in potestate, eaque, quem ad modum in cylindro dictum est, extrinsecus pulsa, quod reliquum est, suapte vi et natura movebitur. Quodsi aliqua res efficeretur sine causa antecedente, falsum esset omnia fato fieri; sin omnibus, quaecumque fiunt, veri simile est causam antecedere, quid adferri poterit, cur non omnia fato fieri fatendum sit? modo intellegatur, quae sit causarum distinctio ac dissimilitudo.

“Thus,” he says, “just as the person who pushed the cylinder gave it the beginning of its motion but did not give it its capacity to roll, so an impression presented to the mind will indeed imprint and, as it were, stamp its appearance upon it, but our assent will remain within our power. As was said of the cylinder, after being pushed from outside, it will thereafter move by its own force and nature. If anything were produced without an antecedent cause, it would be false that everything happens by fate. But if it is probable that an antecedent cause precedes everything that happens, what reason can be given why we should not admit that everything happens by fate, provided the distinction and difference among causes is understood?”

« Ainsi, dit-il, celui qui a poussé le cylindre lui a donné le commencement du mouvement, mais non sa faculté de rouler. De même, la représentation offerte imprimera et gravera pour ainsi dire sa forme dans l’esprit; mais notre assentiment restera en notre pouvoir et, comme on l’a dit du cylindre, après avoir reçu une impulsion extérieure, il se mouvra pour le reste par sa force et sa nature propres. Si une chose se produisait sans cause antécédente, il serait faux que tout arrive par le destin. Mais s’il est vraisemblable que tout événement est précédé d’une cause, quelle raison pourrait-on donner de ne pas reconnaître que tout arrive par le destin? Il suffit de comprendre la distinction et la différence entre les causes. »