Thanks To The Gods

I had good grandparents, good mother and father
A good sister, good teachers, good servants
Relatives, friends
Nearly everything good
And that I never lost control of myself with any of them
Although I had it in me to do that and I might have, easily
But thanks to the gods
I was never put in that position and so I escaped the test
I was never put in that position and so I escaped the test
That I wasn’t longer raised by my granddad’s girlfriend
I didn’t lose my virginity too early
And didn’t enter adulthood until it was time
Hell, I put off

That I had someone as a ruler and father
Who could keep me from arrogance
To live in a palace without body guards
Without fancy dresses or torches or statues or such like show
That you can live much like a regular person
Not remiss in action or careless a ruler
When carrying out official obligations
That I had the kind of brother I did
One whose character challenged me to improve my own
One whose love and affection enriched my whole life
That my children weren’t born stupid or physically deformed
That I wasn’t more talented in rhetoric or poetry
They could have consumed me if I had seen progress
I might never have given them up

That I conferred on the people who brought me up
The honors that they seemed to want early on
Instead of putting them off, since they were still young
With the hope that I’d do it later
That I knew Apollonius and Rusticus and Maximus
That I was shown clearly and often
What it would be like to live as nature requires

[Chorus]
Thanks to the gods. they did all they could
Through their gifts, their help, their inspiration
To ensure
That I could live as nature demands
Thanks to the gods, they did all they could
Through their gifts, their help, their inspiration
To ensure
That I could live as nature demands

And if I’ve failed, it’s no one’s fault but mine
Cause I didn't pay attention to what they told me
To what they taught me, practically, step by step
That my body has held up for so long through such a life
That I never laid a finger on Benedicta or Theodotus
Even later I was overcome by passion I recovered
Even though I often quarreled with Rusticus
I never did nothing that I regretted later
And though my mother died young
She spent her last years with me
And if I ever wished to help a man in need
I was never told that I had not the means
That I was never put in that position myself
Of having to take something from somebody else
That I have the wife I do; obedient, loving, humble
That my children had competent teachers
For the remedies shown me in dream
When I was coughing blood
When my head was spinning
(Spinning)
(Spinning)

When I had an inclination to philosophy
I didn’t fall into the hands of any Sophist
That I didn't waste my time
On writers of histories
Or in the resolution of syllogisms
Or occupy myself about the investigation
Of appearances in the heavens
For all these things require the help
Of the gods and fortune

[Chorus]
Thanks to the gods. they did all they could
Through their gifts, their help, their inspiration
To ensure
That I could live as nature demands
Thanks to the gods, they did all they could
Through their gifts, their help, their inspiration
To ensure
That I could live as nature demands