 In this work Plutarch examines an issue with which philosophers of his age are seriously concerned, namely that of theodicy. Even if God is not responsible for occurrences of evil (see above, sect. 4.2), there is a question of why these are not always punished promptly by God. In his treatise On the Delays of the Divine Vengeance Plutarch addresses the question of whether the delays of divine punishment speak against the existence of divine providence (550C) and he replies that this is not the case. God, he argues, acts on reason, not on passionate anger or impulse (551A, 557E), thus avoiding errors, and by doing so, Plutarch continues, he sets the model for our own actions (ibid.). On the other hand, Plutarch argues that human wickedness is not always to be punished, because it of itself ruins the life of those who act thus, and this is already a sufficient punishment (ibid. 556D-E). Besides, Plutarch suggests, the punishment of the divine does not have to be obvious; this can actually take place in the afterlife of the soul, as is suggested in Republic 10, so Plutarch claims that “it is one and the same argument …that establishes both the providence of god and the survival of the human soul” (560F; see also below, sect. 5).