L. Annaeus Seneca on BenefitsSeneca, Lucius Annaeus
Philosophy
L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits
Seneca, Lucius Annaeus
Benevolence; Classical literature; Conduct of life; Essays
XXXIII. A man bestows a benefit upon me: I receive it just as he wished
it to be received: then he gets at once what he wanted, and the only
thing which he wanted, and therefore I have proved myself grateful.
After this it remains for me to enjoy my own resources, with the
addition of an advantage conferred upon me by one whom I have obliged;
this advantage is not the remainder of an imperfect service, but an
addition to a perfected service. [Footnote: Nothing is wanted to make
a benefit, conferred from good motives, perfect: if it is returned, the
gratitude is to be counted as net profit.] For example, Phidias makes a
statue. Now the product of an art is one thing, and that of a trade is
another. It is the business of the art to make the thing which he wished
to make, and that of the trade to make it with a profit. Phidias has
completed his work, even though he does not sell it. The product,
therefore, of his work is threefold: there is the consciousness of
having made it, which he receives when his work is completed; there is
the fame which he receives; and thirdly, the advantage which he obtains
by it, in influence, or by selling it, or otherwise. In like manner the
first fruit of a benefit is the consciousness of it, which we feel when
we have bestowed it upon the person whom we chose; secondly and thirdly
there is the credit which we gain by doing so, and there are those
things which we may receive in exchange for it. So when a benefit has
been graciously received, the giver has already received gratitude, but
has not yet received recompense for it: that which we owe in return is
therefore something apart from the benefit itself, for we have paid for
the benefit itself when we accept it in a grateful spirit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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