Can we, then, think that this plentiful fountain of evil sprung from the immortal Gods?
If they have given reason to man, they have likewise given him subtlety, for subtlety is only a deceitful manner of applying reason to do mischief.

To them likewise we must owe deceit, and every other crime, which, without the help of reason, would neither have been thought of nor committed.

As the old woman wished That to the fir which on Mount Pelion grew The axe had ne'er been laid,[278] so we should wish that the Gods had never bestowed this ability on man, the abuse of which is so general that the small number of those who make a good use of it are often oppressed by those who make a bad use of it; so that it seems to be given rather to help vice than to promote virtue among us.
XXXI.

This, you insist on it, is the fault of man, and not of the Gods.
But should we not laugh at a physician or pilot, though they are weak mortals, if they were to lay the blame of their ill success on the violence of the disease or the fury of the tempest?
Had there not been danger, we should say, who would have applied to you?
This reasoning has still greater force against the Deity.

The fault, you say, is in man, if he commits crimes.