25.
You are mistaken, I maintain, if you propose to reserve your punishments for the hangman or the prison; the crime is punished immediately after it is committed; nay, rather, at the moment when it is committed.
Hence, good does not spring from evil, any more than figs grow from olive-trees.
Things which grow correspond to their seed; and goods cannot depart from their class.
As that which is honourable does not grow from that which is base, so neither does good grow from evil.
For the honourable and the good are identical.
Book: Moral Letters Vol II
Subtitle: Seneca's timeless letters of advice and wisdom.
Author: Seneca
Chapter: Some arguments in favour of the simple life
Location: Chapter 87, Section 25
Content:
25.
You are mistaken, I maintain, if you propose to reserve your punishments for the hangman or the prison; the crime is punished immediately after it is committed; nay, rather, at the moment when it is committed.
Hence, good does not spring from evil, any more than figs grow from olive-trees.
Things which grow correspond to their seed; and goods cannot depart from their class.
As that which is honourable does not grow from that which is base, so neither does good grow from evil.
For the honourable and the good are identical.