the phrase written, “if the gods will”, I would have him to know that, once he has experienced the risks of life, he will not wonder nearly so much.’ Plato relates a conversation between Socrates and Alcibiades. Alcibiades says: ‘I will do so if you wish, Socrates.’ Socrates answers: ‘Alcibiades, that is not the way to talk. And how ought you to speak? You ought to say: “If God so wishes.” ’ The second-century Christian author Minucius Felix writes: ‘God grant it—it comes instinctively to the ordinary