Some things can't hurt us at all. Their power only brings good and healing — like the immortal gods. They don't want to harm us, and they can't. Their nature is gentle and peaceful. They're no more likely to hurt others than they are to hurt themselves. Foolish people who don't understand the truth blame the gods for storms at sea, too much rain, and harsh winters. But these natural events that help us or hurt us happen without any thought of us. The universe doesn't create summer and winter for our sake. These seasons follow their own laws. They perform their divine functions according to their own nature.
There are some things which are unable to hurt us, and whose power is exclusively beneficial and salutary, as, for example, the immortal gods, who neither wish nor are able to do harm: for their temperament is naturally gentle and tranquil, and no more likely to wrong others than to wrong themselves. Foolish people who know not the truth hold them answerable for storms at sea, excessive rain, and long winters, whereas all the while these phenomena by which we suffer or profit take place without any reference whatever to us: it is not for our sake that the universe causes summer and winter to succeed one another; these have a law of their own, according to which their divine functions are performed.