With this view
Plutarch charges the Stoics. Αὐτοὶ τῶν
κακῶν ἀρχὴν
ἀγαθὸν ὄντα
τὸν Θεον
ποιοῦσι. (c.
Stoicos, 1976.) But it is his deduction from their
statements—not their own statements. cf.
Mosheim’s note on Cudworth iv. § 13. Origen (c.
Celsum vi.) distinguishes between την
κακίαν καὶ
τὰς ἀπ᾽
αὐτῆς
πράξεις, and
κακόν as punitive
and remedial; if the latter can rightly be called evil in any
sense, God is the author of it. cf.
Amos iii. 6. Vide, also,
Basil’s treatment of this question in his Treatise
ὅτι οὐκ
ἔστιν
αἰτιος τῶν
κακῶν ὁ
θεος. cf.
Schroeck. Kirchengeschichte xiii. 194.