Moira: Fate, Good, and Evil in Greek Thought

This is the history of an idea, or group of intimately related ideas, as its significance was developed for over a thousand years of hellenic civilization. the idea of fate dominated many phases of poetry, theology, and philosophy from the homeric age to the rise of christendom, when at length fate, as it were, became wholly providential. analogous ways of thought are, of course, to be found elsewhere. but the greeks humanized fate to a far greater extent. consequently it was more easily assimilated to the beliefs of hebrew and christian theism. the greek mind was apt to perceive the significance of fate most clearly in the conflict of unseasonable circumstance with human character and its aspirations in art, morality, and politics. the intimate relations of "moira" to beliefs about right and wrong, and to notions of good and evil, receive their due emphasis in this book.