So, then, the prize of the good is one which no time may impair, no man's power lessen, no man's unrighteousness tarnish; 'tis very Godship.

And this being so, the wise man cannot doubt that punishment is inseparable from the bad.

For since good and bad, and likewise reward and punishment, are contraries, it necessarily follows that, corresponding to all that we see accrue as reward of the good, there is some penalty attached as punishment of evil.

As, then, righteousness itself is the reward of the righteous, so wickedness itself is the punishment of the unrighteous.

Now, no one who is visited with punishment doubts that he is visited with evil.
Accordingly, if they were but willing to weigh their own case, could _they_ think themselves free from punishment whom wickedness, worst of all evils, has not only touched, but deeply tainted?
'See, also, from the opposite standpoint--the standpoint of the good--what a penalty attends upon the wicked.