Montaigne 1.32
We can neither understand the arbitrary and personal meaning of the stars, nor why Heliogabalus died in a privy.1 Montaigne seems to suggest that we should be content with not knowing and, while he would believe in a greater meaning for these things – a meaning perceptible only to Providence – it does seem the more prudent course. Though naturally one is free, pace our essayist, to doubt whether that greater significance exists at all.
- Along with Arius (as vividly described by St. Ambrose) & Pope Leo (217). [↩]