Clement of Alexandria — Stromata 1.17

I know many who continually attack us and say that what does not hinder is a cause. They say the one who did not guard, or did not prevent, is cause of a theft — as the one who did not put out a fire at the start is cause of the blaze, and the pilot who did not furl the sail is cause of shipwreck. The law even punishes such “causes.”

We answer that a cause is understood in doing and acting and effecting, while what does not hinder is, as such, inactive. The cause stands with the activity — as the shipbuilder with the ship’s coming to be.