- Prayer of the Athenians:
Zeus, rain down, rain down
On the land and fields of Athens.Either no prayers at all—or one as straightforward as that.- Just as you overhear people saying that “the doctor
prescribed such-and-such for him” (like riding, or cold
baths, or walking barefoot.. .), say this: “Nature prescribed
illness for him.” Or blindness. Or the loss of a limb. Or
whatever. There “prescribed” means something like
“ordered, so as to further his recovery.” And so too here.
What happens to each of us is ordered. It furthers our destiny.
And when we describe things as “taking place,” we’re
talking like builders, who say that blocks in a wall or a
pyramid “take their place” in the structure, and fit together in
a harmonious pattern.
For there is a single harmony. Just as the world forms a
single body comprising all bodies, so fate forms a single
purpose, comprising all purposes. Even complete illiterates
acknowledge it when they say that something “brought on”
this or that. Brought on, yes. Or prescribed it. And in that