Contents of On Benefits, by L. Annaeus Seneca
Addressed to Aebutius Liberalis
Translated by Aubrey Stewart
Contents
| BOOK I. The prevalence of ingratitude--How a benefit ought to be bestowed--The three Graces--Benefits are the chief bond of human society--What we owe in return for a benefit received--A benefit consists not of a thing but of the wish to do good--Socrates and Aeschines--What kinds of benefits should be bestowed, and in what manner--Alexander and the franchise of Corinth. | From NSG - Seneca treats "benefits" like a personal loan that should be made wisely, but generously. If made wisely -- to someone deserving, there will be repayment, but the one giving benefits should not demand repayment on his schedule. The generous conferrer of the benefits will reap his own benefits even without repayment because of his enhanced reputation. |
| BOOK II. Many men give through weakness of character--We ought to give before our friends ask--Many benefits are spoiled by the manner of the giver--Marius Nepos and Tiberius--Some benefits should be given secretly--We must not give what would harm the receiver--Alexander's gift of a city--Interchange of benefits like a game of ball--From whom ought one to receive a benefit?-- Examples--How to receive a benefit--Ingratitude caused by self- love, by greed, or by jealousy--Gratitude and repayment not the same thing--Phidias and the statue | The attitudes of the givers and receivers are important. The value increases when the one on the receiving end acknowledges how kind his benefactor is. This, in turn, increases the receiver's obligation to the giver. Part, but not all of this can be repaid by actively stating and demonstrating one's appreciation for both the giver and the gift. |
BOOK III. Ingratitude--Is it worse to be ungrateful for kindness or not even to remember it?--Should ingratitude be punished by law?-- Can a slave bestow a benefit?--Can a son bestow a benefit upon his father?--Examples
BOOK IV. Whether the bestowal of benefits and the return of gratitude for them are desirable objects in themselves? Does God bestow benefits?--How to choose the man to be benefited--We ought not to look for any return--True gratitude--Of keeping one's promise--Philip and the soldier--Zeno
BOOK V. Of being worsted in a contest of benefits--Socrates and Archelaus--Whether a man can be grateful to himself, or can bestow a benefit upon himself--Examples of ingratitude--Dialogue on ingratitude--Whether one should remind one's friends of what one has done for them--Caesar and the soldier--Tiberius.
BOOK VI. Whether a benefit can be taken from one by force-- Benefits depend upon thought--We are not grateful for the advantages which we receive from inanimate Nature, or from dumb animals--In order to lay me under an obligation you must benefit me intentionally--Cleanthes's story of the two slaves--Of benefits given in a mercenary spirit--Physicians and teachers bestow enormous benefits, yet are sufficiently paid by a moderate fee-- Plato and the ferryman--Are we under an obligation to the sun and moon?--Ought we to wish that evil may befall our benefactors, in order that we may show our gratitude by helping them?
BOOK VII. The cynic Demetrius--his rules of conduct--Of the truly wise man--Whether one who has done everything in his power to return a benefit has returned it--Ought one to return a benefit to a bad man?--The Pythagorean, and the shoemaker--How one ought to bear with the ungrateful.
L. A. SENECA
ON BENEFITS.
DEDICATED TO
AEBUTIUS LIBERALIS.
