Against the Epicureans, Plutarch holds that philosophy and religion are more important
for society than statute laws. Given the analogy between the politician and the god-creator
of the harmonious cosmos, rulers and their laws should, then, humbly imitate god and his
divine law of Justice, thereby having only persuasion as a tool. It is argued that the rhetorical
concept of persuasion plays an equally important role in the way the god, according to Plutarch
(as a Platonist) has created the cosmos: divine persuasion overcame the laws of nature. The
prescriptive character of this persuasion, however, conflicts with our modern concept of the
descriptive character of physical laws.