Plutarch is clearly of opinion that this state of things is best for his fellow-countrymen. He is as firmly convinced of the divine mission of Rome as ever was Virgil or any other patriotic Roman.[1] In his tract "De Fortuna Romanorum," he discusses the question whether the greatness of Rome was due to [Greek: Tychê] or or [Greek: Aretê], as he expresses the antithesis in another place, to [Greek: Tychê] or [Greek: Pronoia]—to Chance or to Providence, we may translate, if we recognize that here Chance is the divine element, and Providence the human.[2] In other words, is the grandeur of Rome the result of human virtue and forethought, or is it a direct gift of the Deity to mankind? He decides in the latter sense, though conceding much to the valour of individual Romans; and his incidental expressions of opinion bear as much evidence to the divinely inspired and divinely guided character of Roman administration as is borne by his definite conclusion. He says that, whichever way the question is decided, it can only redound to the glory of Rome to be the subject of a discussion which has hitherto been confined to the greatnomine contineri omnem rerum actionumque efficientiam, quæ a Virtute disjuncta, nec in hominis potestate posita est; sive illa ut casus et temeritas, sive ut divina providentia informetur."—Wyttenbach. Schlemm says that this tract and the De Alexandri sive virtute sive fortuna are "meræ exercitationes rhetoricæ in quibus certam quandam philosophiam persequi in animo non habebat." Yet the rhetoric of the De Fortuna Romanorum is in wonderful harmony with Plutarch's mature opinion as deliberately expressed in the De Republica Gerenda.]
