Plotino – Tratado 47,13 (III, 2, 13) — A justiça do universo se manifesta através do ciclo das vidas

13- No debemos, con todo, desdeñar ese argumento que nos pide miremos a cada ser, no en su situación presente, sino en los períodos anteriores y en su futuro, de modo que establezcamos lo que es justo para cada uno; y así, puede explicarse el cambio en esclavos de los que antes eran señores, si realmente fueron malos señores, porque esto será, al fin, provechoso para ellos mismos, al igual que los que usaron mal de las riquezas se convertirán en pobres, porque el ser pobre no resulta perjudicial para los buenos. Y los que han dado muerte injustamente sufrirán a su vez este castigo, el cual, si es injusto para el que lo realiza, es, en cambio, justo para el que lo sufre. Pues hemos de pensar que el hombre llamado a sufrir el castigo encontrará siempre al hombre adecuado para hacérselo sufrir. No se es esclavo o prisionero de guerra por casualidad, como tampoco se sufren al azar violencias corporales; sino que se habrán hecho realmente en alguna ocasión todas las cosas que ahora se sufren. De este modo, el que ha matado a su madre renacerá mejor para sufrir la muerte a manos de su hijo, y el que ha forzado a una mujer será también mujer para sufrir la misma suerte ¹. De ahí proviene la divina ley de Adrastea; porque este orden es realmente la verdadera Adrastea, la verdadera Justicia y una admirable Sabiduría. Conviene considerar, ante el espectáculo del universo, que el orden que en él existe se extiende hasta las cosas más pequeñas; y es un arte maravilloso, que no sólo se manifiesta en los seres divinos, sino también en aquellos que nosotros desdeñaríamos como poco dignos de la atención de la providencia. Este maravilloso prodigio se realiza en todos los seres, incluso en las plantas con la hermosura de sus frutos y de sus hojas, la gracia de sus flores y su misma ligereza y variedad. Todo lo cual no ha sido hecho de una vez, ni tampoco deja de ser, sino que concuerda con las posiciones de los astros, que no son siempre las mismas. Estos cambios y estas formas no se realizan por mero azar, sino conforme a un patrón hermoso, según conviene que obren los poderes divinos. Porque todo lo divino actúa de acuerdo con su naturaleza, que a su vez depende de su esencia; y es su esencia la que acompaña en sus acciones a la belleza y a la justicia, pues, de otro modo, ¿dónde se encontrarían éstas?

XIII. Il y a encore une considération qu’il ne faut pas mépriser, c’est qu’il ne suffit pas d’examiner uniquement le présent, qu’on doit tenir compte aussi des périodes passées et de l’avenir afin d’y voir s’exercer la justice distributive de la divinité (95). Elle fait esclaves ceux qui ont été maîtres dans une vie antérieure, s’ils ont abusé de leur pouvoir; et ce changement leur est utile (96). Elle rend pauvres ceux qui ont mal employé leurs richesses : car la pauvreté sert même aux gens vertueux. De même, ceux qui ont tué sont tués à leur tour ; celui qui commet l’homicide agit injustement, mais celui qui en est victime souffre justement (97).

Ainsi, il y a harmonie entre la disposition de l’homme qui est maltraité et la disposition de celui qui le maltraite comme il le méritait. Ce n’est pas par hasard qu’un homme devient esclave, est fait prisonnier ou est déshonoré. Il a commis lui-même les violences qu’il subit à son tour. Celui qui a tué sa mère sera tué par son fils ; celui qui a violé une femme deviendra femme pour être à son tour victime d’un viol. De là vient la parole divin appelée Adrastée (θεία φήμη Ἀδράστεια) : car l’ordre (διάταξις) dont nous parlons ici est véritablement Adrastée, est véritablement une Justice, une Sagesse admirable. Des choses que nous voyons dans l’univers nous devons conclure que l’ordre qui y règne est éternel, qu’il pénètre partout, même dans ce qu’il y a de plus petit, et qu’il montre un art admirable non seulement dans les choses divines, mais encore dans celles que l’on pourrait croire dédaignées de la Providence à cause de leur petitesse (98). Ainsi, dans les plus vils animaux, il y a une variété d’art admirable ; elle s’étend jusqu’aux végétaux, dont les fruits et les feuilles se distinguent tant par la beauté de la forme, dont les fleurs s’épanouissent avec tant de grâce, qui poussent si facilement et qui offrent tant de variété (100). Ces choses n’ont pas été produites une fois pour toutes ; elles sont produites avec une variété continuelle parce que les astres dans leur cours n’exercent pas toujours la, même influence sur les choses d’ici-bas: Ce qui est transformé n’est pas transformé et métamorphosé au hasard, mais d’après les lois de la beauté et les règles de la convenance qu’observent des puissances divines. Toute puissance divine agit conformément à sa nature, c’est-à-dire conformément à son essence ; or, son essence est de développer dans ses actes la justice et la beauté (101) : car si la justice et la beauté ne s’y trouvaient pas, elles ne sauraient exister nulle part.

DIVINE JUSTICE EXTENDS ALSO INTO PAST AND FUTURE.

13. There is a further consideration that should not be overlooked, namely: that if you desire to discover the exercise of the distributive Justice of the divinity, it is not sufficient to examine only the present; the past and future must also be considered. Those who, in a former life, were slave-owners, if they abused their power, will be enslaved; and this change would be useful to them. It impoverishes those who have badly used their wealth; for poverty is of service even to virtuous people. Likewise, those who kill will in their turn be killed; he who commits homicide acts unjustly, but he who is its victim suffers justly. Thus arises a harmony between the disposition of the man who is maltreated, and the disposition of him who maltreats him as he deserved. It is not by chance that a man becomes a slave, is made prisoner, or is dishonored. He (must himself) have committed the violence which he in turn undergoes. He who kills his mother will be killed by his son; he who has violated a woman will in turn become a woman in order to become the victim of a rape. Hence, the divine Word called Adrastea. The orderly system here mentioned really is “unescapeable,” truly a justice and an admirable wisdom. From the things that we see in the universe we must conclude that the order which reigns in it is eternal, that it penetrates everywhere, even in the smallest thing; and that it reveals an admirable art not only in the divine things, but also in those that might be supposed to be beneath the notice of Providence, on account of their minuteness. Consequently, there is an admirable variety of art in the vilest animal. It extends even into plants, whose fruits and leaves are so distinguished by the beauty of form, whose flowers bloom with so much grace, which grow so easily, and which offer so much variety. These things were not produced once for all; they are continually produced with variety, because the stars in their courses do not always exert the same influence on things here below. What is transformed is not transformed and metamorphosed by chance, but according to the laws of beauty, and the rules of suitability observed by divine powers. Every divine Power acts according to its nature, that is, in conformity with its essence. Now its essence is to develop justice and beauty in its actualizations; for if justice and beauty did not exist here, they could not exist elsewhere.

13. And we must not despise the familiar observation that there is something more to be considered than the present. There are the periods of the past and, again, those in the future; and these have everything to do with fixing worth of place.

Thus a man, once a ruler, will be made a slave because he abused his power and because the fall is to his future good. Those that have money will be made poor – and to the good poverty is no hindrance. Those that have unjustly killed, are killed in turn, unjustly as regards the murderer but justly as regards the victim, and those that are to suffer are thrown into the path of those that administer the merited treatment.

It is not an accident that makes a man a slave; no one is a prisoner by chance; every bodily outrage has its due cause. The man once did what he now suffers. A man that murders his mother will become a woman and be murdered by a son; a man that wrongs a woman will become a woman, to be wronged.

Hence arises that awesome word “Adrasteia” [the Inevadable Retribution]; for in very truth this ordinance is an Adrasteia, justice itself and a wonderful wisdom.

We cannot but recognize from what we observe in this universe that some such principle of order prevails throughout the entire of existence – the minutest of things a tributary to the vast total; the marvellous art shown not merely in the mightiest works and sublimest members of the All, but even amid such littleness as one would think Providence must disdain: the varied workmanship of wonder in any and every animal form; the world of vegetation, too; the grace of fruits and even of leaves, the lavishness, the delicacy, the diversity of exquisite bloom; and all this not issuing once, and then to die out, but made ever and ever anew as the Transcendent Beings move variously over this earth.

In all the changing, there is no change by chance: there is no taking of new forms but to desirable ends and in ways worthy of Divine Powers. All that is Divine executes the Act of its quality; its quality is the expression of its essential Being: and this essential Being in the Divine is the Being whose activities produce as one thing the desirable and the just – for if the good and the just are not produced there, where, then, have they their being?