's sake more than for the Gods and all this Rabble of Deities which the Superstition of many Ages has gather'd together we are in such manner to adore as to consider the Worship to be rather Matter of Custome than of Conscience Whereupon St. Augustine observes That this Illustrious Senator Worship'd what he Reprov'd Acted what he Dislik'd and Ador'd what he Condemn'd SENECA'S LIFE and DEATH IT has been an Ancient Custome to Record the Actions and the Writings of Eminent Men with all their Circumstances and it is but a Right that we owe to the Memory of our Famous Author Seneca was by Birth a Spaniard of Cordova a Roman Colony of great Fame and Antiquity He was of the Family of Annaeus of the Order of Knights and the Father Lucius Annaeus Seneca was distinguish'd from the Son by the Name of the Orator His Mothers Name was Helvia a Woman of Excellent Qualities His Father came to Rome in the time of Augustus and his Wife and Children soon follow'd him our Seneca yet being in his Infancy There were three Brothers of them and never a Sister Marcus Annaeus Novatus Lucius Annaeus Seneca and Lucius Annaeus Mela. The first of these chang'd his Name for Iunius Gallio who adopted him to him it was that he Dedicated his Treatise of Anger whom he calls Novatus too and he also Dedicated his Discourse of a Happy Life to his Brother Gallio The youngest Brother Annaeus Mela was Lucan's Father Seneca was about Twenty years of Age in the Fifth year of Tiberius when the Iews were expell'd Rome His Father train'd him up to Rhetorick but his Genius led him rather to Philosophy and he apply'd his Wit to Morality and Virtue He was a great Hearer of the Celebrated Men of those times as Attalus Sotion Papirius Fabianus of whom he makes often mention and he was much an Admirer also of Demetrius the Cynique whose conversation he had afterwards in the Court and both at home also and abroad for they often Travell'd together His Father was not at all pleas'd with his humor of Philosophy but forc'd him upon the Law and for a while he Practis'd Pleading After which he would needs put him upon Publick Employment and he came first to be Quaestor and then Praetor and some will have it that he was chosen Consul but this is doubtful Seneca finding that he had ill Offices done him at Court and that Nero's Favour began to cool he went directly and resolutely to Nero with an Offer to refund all that he had gotten Which Nero would not receive but however from that time he chang'd his Course of Life receiv'd few Visits shun'd Company went little abroad still pretending to be kept at home either by Indisposition or by his Study Being Nero's Tutor and Governour all things went well so long as Nero follow'd his Counsel His two Chief Favorites were Burrhus and Seneca who were both of them Excellent in their wayes Burrhus in his care of Military Affairs and severity of Discipline Seneca for his Precepts and Good Advice in the matter of Eloquence and the Gentleness of an Honest Mind assisting one another in that slippery Age of the Prince sayes Tacitus to invite him by the Allowance of Lawful Pleasures to the Love of Virtue Seneca had two Wives the Name of the first is not mention'd his second was Paulina whom he often speaks of with great Passion By the former he had his Son Marcus In the first year of Claudius he was Banish'd into Corsica when Iulia the Daughter of Germanicus was accus'd by Messalina of Adultery and Banish'd too Seneca being charg'd as one of the Adulterers After a matter of Eight years or upwards in Exile he was call'd back and as much in favor again as ever His Estate was partly Patrimonial but the greatest part of it was the Bounty of his Prince His Gardens Villa's Lands Possessions and Incredible Sums of Mony are agreed upon at all hands which drew an Envy upon him Dio reports him to have had 250000 l. Sterling at Interest in Brittany alone which he call'd in all at a Sum. The Court it self could not bring him to Flattery and for his Piety Submission and Virtue the Practice of his whole Life witnesses for him So soon sayes he as the Candle is taken away my Wife that knowes my Custome lies still without a word speaking and then do I Recollect all that I have said or done that day and take my self to shrift And why should I conceal or reserve any thing or make any Scruple of enquiring into my Errors when I can say to my self Do so no more and for this once I 'll forgive thee And again What can be more Pious and Self-denying than this Passage in one of his Epistles Believe me now when I tell you the very bottom of my Soul In all the Difficulties and Crosses of my life this is my Consideration Since it is God's Will I do not only obey but assent to 't nor do I comply out of Necessity but Inclination Here follows now sayes Tacitus the Death of Seneca to Nero's great satisfaction Not so much for any pregnant Proof against him that he was of Piso's Conspiracy but Nero was resolv'd to do that by the Sword which he could not Effect by Poyson For it is reported that Nero had corrupted Cleonicus a Freeman of Seneca ' s to give his Master Poyson which did not succeed whether that the servant had discover'd it to his Master or that Seneca by his own caution and Iealousie had avoided it for he liv'd only upon a simple Diet as the Fruits of the Earth and his Drink was most commonly River-water Natalis it seems was sent upon a Visit to him being indispos'd with a Complaint that he would not let Piso come at him and Advising him to the Continuance of their Friendship and Acquaintance as formerly To whom Seneca made Answer That frequent Meetings and Conferences betwixt them could do neither of them any Good but that he had a great Interest in Piso's wellfare Hereupon Granius Silvanus a Captain of the Guard was sent to examine Seneca upon the Discourse that pass'd betwixt him and Natalis and to return his Answer Seneca either by Chance or upon Purpose came that day from Campania to a Villa of his own within four Miles of the City and thither the Officer went the next Evening and beset the Place He found Seneca at Supper with his Wife Paulina and two of his Friends and gave him immediately an Account of his Commission Seneca told him that it was true that Natalis had been with him in Piso's Name with a Complaint that Piso could not be admitted to see him and that he exous'd himself by reason of his want of health and his desires to be quiet and private and that he had no reason to prefer another Mans Wellfare before his own Caesar himself he said knew very well that he was not a Man of Complement
Nature to him and shew him the Light at Noon day He wanted a Man that when the Sun was in an Eclipse and he had lock'd himself up in all the horror and despair imaginable he wanted a Man I say to deliver him from his apprehensions and to expound the Prodigy to him by telling him That there was no more in 't than only that the Moon was got betwixt the Sun and the Earth and all would be well again presently Let the World Judge now whether Archelaus his Bounty or Socrates his Philosophy would have been the greater Present He does not understand the Value of Wisdom and Friendship that does not know a wise Friend to be the Noblest of Presents A Rarity scarce to be found not only in a Family but in an Age and no where more wanted than where there seems to be the greatest store The greater a Man is the more need he has of him and the more difficulty there is both of finding and of knowing him Nor is it to be said that I cannot requite such a Benefactor because I am poor and have it not I can give good Counsel a Conversation wherein he may take both Delight and Profit Freedome of Discourse without Flattery kind attention where he deliberates and Faith inviolable where he trusts I may bring him to a love and knowledge of Truth deliver him from the Errors of his Credulity and teach him to distinguish betwixt Friends and Parasites CHAP. X. The Question discuss'd Whether or no a Man may Give or Return a Benefit to himself THERE are many Cases wherein a Man speaks of himself as of another As for Example I may thank my self for this I am angry at my self I hate my self for That And this way of Speaking has raised a Dispute among the Stoicks Whether or no a Man may Give or Return a Benefit to himself For say they if I may hurt my Self I may oblige my Self and that which were a Benefit to another Body Why is it not so to my Self And Why am not I as Criminal in being Ungrateful to my Self as if I were so to another body And the Case is the same in Flattery and several other Vices as on the other side it is a point of great Reputation for a Man to Command himself Plato thank'd Socrates for what he had Learn'd of him and Why might not Socrates as well thank Plato for that which he had Taught him That which you want sayes Plato borrow it of your Self And Why may not I as well Give to my Self as Lend If I may be Angry with my Self I may Thank my Self and if I Chide my Self I may as well Commend my Self and do my Self Good as well as Hurt There 's the same reason of Contraries 'T is a Common thing to say Such a Man has done himself an Injury If an Injury Why not a Benefit But I say that no Man can be a Debtor to himself for the Benefit must naturally precede the Acknowledgment and a Debtor can no more be without a Creditor than a Husband without a Wife Some body must Give that some Body may Receive and 't is neither Giving nor Receiving the passing of a thing from one hand to the other What if a Man should be Ungrateful in the Case there 's Nothing lost for he that gives it has it and he that Gives and he that Receives are one and the same Person Now properly Speaking no Man can be said to bestow any thing upon himself for he obeys his Nature that prompts every Man to do himself all the good he can Shall I call him Liberal that gives to himself or Good Natur'd that pardons himself or Pittiful that is affected with his own Misfortunes That which were Bounty Clemency Compassion to another to my Self is Nature A Benefit is a voluntary thing but to do good to my Self is a thing Necessary Was ever any Man commended for getting out of a Ditch or for helping himself against Thieves Or What if I should allow that a Man may conferr a Benefit upon himself yet he cannot owe it for he returns it in the same insâ—…ant that he receives it No Man Gives Owes or Makes a Return but to Another How can one Man do that to which two Parties are requisite in so many respects Giving and Receiving must go backward and forward betwixt two Persons If a Man Give to himself he may Sell to himself But to sell is to alienate a thing and to translate the right of it to Another now to make Man both the Giver and the Receiver is to Unite Two contraries That 's a Benefit which when it is Given may possibly not be Requited but he that Gives to himself must necessarily Receive what he Gives beside that all Benefits are Given for the Receivers sake but that which a Man does for himself is for the sake of the Giver THIS is one of those Subtilties which though hardly worth a Mans while yet it is not labor absolutely lost neither There is more of Trick and Artifice in it than Solidity and yet there 's matter of diversion too enough perhaps to pass away a Winters Evening and keep a Man Waking that 's heavy-headed CHAP. XI How far one Man may be oblig'd for a Benefit done to Another THE Question now before us requires Distinction and Caution For though it be both Natural and Generous to wish well to my Friends Friend yet a Second-hand Benefit does not bind me any further than to a Second-hand Gratitude So that I may Receive great Satisfaction and Advantage from a Good Office done to my Friend and yet lie under no Obligation my self Or if any Man thinks otherwise I must ask him in the first place Where it begins and How far it extends that it may not be boundless Suppose a Man Obliges the Son Does that Obligation work upon the Father and Why not upon the Uncle too The Brother The Wife The Sister The Mother Nay upon all that have any Kindness for him and upon all the Lovers of his Friends and upon all that love them too and so in Infinitum In this Case we must have Recourse as is said heretofore to the Intention of the Benefactor and fix the Obligation upon him unto whom the Kindness was directed If a Man Manures my Ground keeps my House from burning or falling 't is a Benefit to me for I am the better for it and my House and Land are Insensible But if he save the Life of my Son the Benefit is to my Son It is a Joy and a Comfort to me but no Obligation I am as much concern'd as I ought to be in the Health the Felicity and the Wellfare of my Son as happy in the Enjoyment of him And I should be as unhappy as is possible in his Loss but it does not follow that I must of necessity lie under an Obligation for being either happier or less miserable by another bodies meanes There are some Benefits
is the most sociable of all Virtues so is it of the largest Extent for there is not any Man either so great or so little but he is yet capable of giving and of receiving Benefits CHAP. III. A Son may Oblige his Father and a Servant his Master THE Question is in the first Place Whether it may not be possible for a Father to owe more to a Son in other respects than the Son owes to his Father for his Being That many Sons are both Greater and Better than their Fathers there is no Question as there are many other things that derive their Beings from others which yet are far greater than their Original Is not the Tree larger than the Seed The River than the Fountain The Foundation of all things lies hid and the Superstructure obscures it If I owe all to my Father because he gave me Life I may owe as much to a Physitian that sav'd his Life for if my Father had not been Cur'd I had never been Begotten Or if I stand indebted for all that I am to my Beginning my Acknowledgment must run back to the very Original of all Humane Beings My Father gave me the Benefit of Life which he had never done if his Father had not first given it to him He gave me Life not knowing to whom and when I was in a Condition neither to feel Death nor to fear it That 's the great Benefit to give Life to one that knows how to use it and that is capable of the Apprehension of Death 'T is true that without a Father I could never have had a Being and so without a Nurse that Being had never been emprov'd but I do not therefore owe my Virtue either to my Nativity or to her that gave me Suck The generation of me was the least part of the Benefit For to Live is common with Brutes but to Live well is the main business and that Virtue is all my own saving what I drew from my Education It does not follow that the first Benefit must be the greatest because without the first the greatest could never have been The Father gives Life to the Son but once but if the Son saves the Fathers Life often though he do but his duty it is yet a greater Benefit And again the Benefit that a Man receives is the greater the more he needs it but the Living has more need of Life than he that is not yet born So that the Father receives a greater Benefit in the Continuance of his Life than the Son in the Beginning of it What if a Son deliver his Father from the Rack or which is more lay himself down in his place The giving of him a Being was but the Office of a Father a simple Act a Benefit given at a venture beside that he had a Participant in it and a regard to his Family He gave only a single Life and he receiv'd a happy one My Mother brought me into the World Naked expos'd and void of Reason but my Reputation and my Fortune are advanc'd by my Virtue Scipio as yet in his Minority rescu'd his Father in a Battel with Hannibal and afterward from the Practices and Prosecution of a Powerful Faction covering him with Consulary Honors and the Spoyles of Publick Enemies He made himself as Eminent for his Moderation as for his Piety and Military Knowledge He was the Defender and the Establisher of his Country He left the Empire without a Competitor and made himself as well the Ornament of Rome as the Security of it and Did not Scipio in all this more than requite his Father barely for Begetting of him Whether did Anchises more for Aeneas in dandling the Child in his Armes or Aeneas for his Father when he carry'd him upon his Back through the Flames of Troy and made his Name famous to future Ages among the Founders of the Roman Empire T. Manlius was the Son of a Sour and Imperious Father who banish'd him his House as a Blockhead and a scandal to the Family This Manlius hearing that his Fathers Life was in Question and a day set for his Tryal went to the Tribune that was concern'd in the Cause and discours'd him about it the Tribune told him the appointed time and withal as an Obligation upon the young Man that his Cruelty to his Son would be part of his Accusation Manlius upon this takes the Tribune aside and presenting a Ponyard to his breast Swear sayes he that you will let this Cause fall or you shall have this Dagger in the heart of you and now 't is at your choise which way you will deliver my Father The Tribune Swore and kept his Word and made a fair Report of the whole matter to the Council He that makes himself Famous by his Eloquence Justice or Armes illustrates his Extraction let it be never so mean and gives inestimable Reputation to his Parents We should never have heard of Sophroniscus but for his Son Socrates nor of Aristo and Gryllus if it had not been for Xenophon and Plato THIS is not to discountenance the Veneration we owe to Parents nor to make Children the worse but the better and to stir up generous Emulations for in Contests of good Offices both Parts are happy as well the vanquish'd as those that overcome It is the only honorable dispute that can arrive betwixt a Father and a Son which of the two shall have the better of the other in the Point of Benefits IN the Question betwixt a Master and a Servant we must distinguish betwixt Benefits Duties and Actions Ministerial By Benefits we understand those good Offices that we receive from Strangers which are voluntary and may be forborn without blame Duties are the Parts of a Son and Wife and incumbent upon Kindred and Relations Offices Ministerial belong to the Part of a Servant Now since it is the Mind and not the Condition of the Person that Prints the Value upon the Benefit a Servant may oblige his Master and so may a Subject his Sovereign or a Common Soldier his General by doing more than he is expresly bound to do Some things there are which the Law neither commands nor forbids and here the Servant is free It would be very hard for a Servant to be chastiz'd for doing less than his duty and not thank'd for 't when he does more His Body 't is true is his Masters but his Mind is his own and there are many Commands which a Servant ought no more to obey than a Master to impose There is no Man so great but he may both need the help and service and stand in fear of the Power and Unkindness even of the meanest of Mortals One Servant Kills his Master another Saves him nay preserves his Masters Life perhaps with the loss of his own He exposes himself to Torment and Death he stands firm against all threats and flatteries which is not only a Benefit in a Servant but much the
Profit I may do it in Kindness to Another Or a hundred By-Ends to my self and every poynt does exceedingly vary the Case Two Persons may part with the same Sum of Money and yet not the same Benefit the One had it of his own and it was but a little out of a great deal the Other borrow'd it and bestow'd upon me that which he wanted for himself Two Boyes were sent out to fetch a certain Person to their Master The one of them hunts up and down and comes home again aweary without finding him the other falls to play with his Companions at the Wheel of Fortune sees him by chance passing by delivers him his Errant and brings him He that found him by chance deserves to be punish'd and he that sought for him and miss'd him to be rewarded for his good Will IN some Cases we value the Thing in others the Labour and Attendance What can be more precious than Good Manners good Letters Life and Health and yet we pay our Physitians and Tutours only for their Service in their Professions If we buy things cheap it matters not so long as 't is a Bargain 't is no Obligation from the Seller if no body else will give him more for 't What would not a Man give to be set a shore in a Tempest For a House in a Wilderness A Shelter in a Storm A Fire or a bit of Meat when a Man 's pinch'd with Hunger or Cold A Defence against Thieves and a Thousand other Matters of great Moment that cost but little And yet we know that the Skipper has but his freight for our Passage and the Carpenters and Bricklayers do their Work by the day Those are many times the greatest Obligations in truth which in vulgar Opinion are the smallest as Comfort to the Sick Poor Captives good Counsel keeping of People from Wickedness c. Wherefore we should reckon our selves to owe most for the Noblest Benefits If the Physitian adds Care and Friendship to the duty of his Calling and the Tutor to the common method of his business I am to esteem of them as the nearest of my Relations for to watch with me to be troubled for me and to put off all other Patients for my sake is a particular kindness and so is it in my Tutor if he takes more pains with me than with the rest of my fellows It is not enough in this Case to pay the One his Fees and the other his Salary but I am indebted to them over and above for their Friendship The meanest of Mechaniques if he does his work with Industry and Care 't is an usual thing to cast in something by way of reward more than the bare Agreement And Shall we deal worse with the Preservers of our Lives and the Reformers of our Manners He that gives me Himself if he be worth taking gives the greatest Benefit And this is the Present which Aeschines a poor Disciple of Socrates made to his Master and as a Matter of great Consideration Others may have given you much sayes he but I am the onely Man that has left nothing to himself This Gift sayes Socrates you shall never repent of for I will take care to return it better than I found it So that a brave Mind can never want Matter for Liberality in the meanest Condition for Nature has been so kind to us that where we have nothing of Fortunes we may bestow something of our own IT falls out often that a Benefit is follow'd with an Injury let which will be foremost it is with the latter as with one Writing upon another it does in a great measure hide the former and keep it from appearing but it does not quite take it away We may in some Cases divide them and both Requite the One and Revenge the Other Or otherwise compare them to know whether I am Creditor or Debtor You have oblig'd me in my Servant but wounded me in my Brother you have sav'd my Son but you have destroy'd my Father In this Instance I will allow as much as Piety and Justice and Good Nature will bear but I am not willing to set an Injury against a Benefit I would have some respect to the Time the Obligation came first and then perhaps the one was design'd the other against his will under these Considerations I would amplifie the Benefit and lessen the Injury and extinguish the One with the Other nay I would pardon the Injury even without the Benefit but much more after it Not that a Man can be bound by one Benefit to suffer all sorts of Injuries for there are some Cases wherein we lye under no Obligation for a Benefit because a greater Injury absolves it As for Example A Man helps me out of a Law-Suite and afterward commits a Rape upon my Daughter where the following Impiety cancells the antecedent Obligation A Man lends me a little Money and then sets my House on fire the Debtor is here turn'd Creditor when the Injury out-weighs the Benefit Nay if a Man does but so much as repent of a good Office done and grow Sour and Insolent upon it and upbraid me with it if he cid it only for his own Sake or for any other Reason than for mine I am in some degree more or less acquitted of the Obligation I am not at all beholden to him that makes me the Instrument of his own Advantage He that does me good for his own sake I 'll do him good for mine SUPPOSE a Man makes Suit for a Place and cannot obtain it but upon the ransome of ten Slaves out of the Gallyes If there be Ten and no more they owe him nothing for their Redemption they are yet endebted to him for the Choice for he might have taken Ten others as well as these Put the Case again that by an Act of Grace so many Prisoners are to be released their Names to be drawn by Lot and mine happens to come out among the rest One part of my Obligation is to him that put me in a Capacity of Freedom and the other is to Providence for my being one of that Number The greatest Benefits of all have no Witnesses but lie concealed in the Conscience THERE' 's a great difference betwixt a Common Obligation and a Particular he that lends my Country Money obliges me only as a Part of the Whole Plato cross'd the River and the Ferry-Man would take no Money of him he reflected upon it as an honor done to himself and told him That Plato was in his debt But Plato when he found it to be no more than he did for others recalled his Word For sayes he Plato will owe nothing in particular for a Benefit in Common what I owe with others I will pay with others SOME will have it that the Necessity of wishing a Man well is some abatement to the Obligation in the doing of him a good Office But I say on the
it makes us Whatsoever it Gives it Corrupts What is there in it that should thus puff us up By what Magick is it that we are so transform'd that we do no longer know our selves Is it Impossible for greatness to be liberal without Insolence The Benefits that we receive from our Superiors are then wellcome when they come with an Open Hand and a clear Brow Without either contumely or State and so as to prevent our Necessities The Benefit is never the greater for the making of a bustle and a noise about it but the Benefactor is much the less for the Ostentation of his good deeds which makes that Odious to us which would be otherwise Delightful Tiberius had gotten a Trick when any Man had begg'd Money of him to refer him to the Senate where all the Petitioners were to deliver up the Names of their Creditors His End perhaps was to deter Men from Asking by exposing the Condition of their Fortunes to an Examination But it was however a Benefit turn'd into a Reprehension and he made a Reproach of a Bounty BUT 't is not enough yet to forbear the Casting of a Benefit in a Man's Teeth for there are some that will not allow it to be so much as challeng'd For an Ill Man say they will not make a Return though it be demanded and a Good Man will do it of himself And then the Asking of it seems to turn it into a Debt It is a kind of Injury to be too quick with the former for to call upon him too soon reproaches him as if he would not have done it otherwise Nor would I Recall a Benefit from any Man so as to force it but only to receive it If I let him quite alone I make my self guilty of his Ingratitude and undoe him for want of Plain-Dealing A Father Reclaimes a Disobedient Son A Wife Reclaimes a Dissolute Husband and one Friend excites the languishing Kindness of another How many Men are lost for want of being touch'd to the quick So long as I am not press'd I will rather desire a Favour than so much as mention a Requital but if my Country my Family or my Liberty be at Stake my Zeal and Indignation shall overrule my Modesty and the World shall then understand that I have done all I could not to stand in need of an Ungrateful Man And in conclusion the Necessity of receiving a Benefit shall overcome the shame of Recalling it Nor is it only allowable upon some Exigents to put the Receiver in Mind of a Good Turn but it is many times for the Common Advantage of both Parties CHAP. XIV How far to Oblige or Requite a Wicked Man THERE are some Benefits whereof a Wicked Man is wholly Incapable of which hereafter There are others which are Bestow'd upon him not for his own sake but for Secondary Reasons and of these we have spoken in part already There are moreover certain Common Offices of Humanity which are only allow'd him as he is a Man and without any regard either to Vice or Virtue To pass over the First Point the Second must be handled with Care and Distinction and not without some seeming Exceptions to the General Rule As first Here 's no Choice or Intention in the Case but 't is a good Office done him for some By-Interest or by Chance Secondly There 's no Iudgment in it neither for 't is to a Wicked Man But to shorten the Matter without these Circumstances it is not properly a Benefit or at least not to him for it looks another way I rescue a Friend from Thieves and the other 'scapes for Company I Discharge a Debt for a Friend and the other comes off too for they were both in a Bond. The Third is of a great Latitude and varies according to the degree of Generosity on the one side and of Wickedness on the other Some Benefactors will Supererogate and do more than they are bound to do And some Men are so lewd that 't is dangerous to do them any sort of Good no not so much as by way of Return or Requital IF the Benefactors Bounty must extend to the Bad as well as to the Good Put the Case that I promise a good Office to an Ungrateful Man We are first to distinguish as is said before betwixt a Common Benefit and a Personal betwixt what is given for Merit and what for Company Secondly Whether or no we know the Person to be Ungrateful and can reasonably conclude that his Vice is Incurable Thirdly A Consideration must be had of the Promise how far that may oblige us The two first Points are clear'd both in one We cannot justifie any particular Kindness for one that we conclude to be a hopelesly wicked Man So that the force of the Promise is the single Point in Question In the Promise of a good Office to a Wicked or Ungrateful Man I am to blame if I did it knowingly and I am to blame nevertheless if I did it otherwise but I must yet make it good under due Qualifications because I promis'd it that is to say Matters continuing in the same State for no Man is answerable for Accidents I 'll Sup at such a Place though it be cold I 'll rise at such an hour though I be sleepy but if it prove tempestuous or that I fall sick of a Feaver I 'll neither do the one nor the other I promise to second a Friend in a Quarrel or to plead his Cause and when I come into the Field or into the Court it proves to be against my Father or my Brother I promise to go a Journey with him but there 's no Travelling upon the Road for Robbing my Child is fallen sick or my Wife in Labour These Circumstances are sufficient to discharge me for a Promise against Law or Duty is void in its own Nature The Counsels of a Wise Man are Certain but Events are uncertain And yet if I have pass'd a rash Promise I will in some degree punish the Temerity of making it with the damage of keeping it Unless it turn very much to my shame or detriment and then I 'll be my own Confessor in the Point and rather be once guilty of Denying than alwayes of Giving It is not with a Benefit as with a Debt It is one thing to trust an ill Pay-Master and another thing to oblige an unworthy Person The one is an ill Man and the other only an ill Husband THERE was a Valiant Fellow in the Army that Philip of Macedon took particular Notice of and he gave him several considerable Marks of the Kindness he had for him This Soldier puts to Sea and was cast away upon a Coast where a Charitable Neighbour took him up half dead carry'd him to his House and there at his own Charge maintain'd and provided for him Thirty dayes till he was perfectly recover'd and after all furnish'd him over and above with a Viaticum at parting
Action How great a Man soever he was in other Cases without dispute he was extremely out in this and below the dignity of his Profession For a Stoick to fear the Name of a King when yet Monarchy is the best State of Government or there to hope for Liberty where so great rewards were propounded both for Tyrants and their Slaves For him to imagine ever to bring the Laws to their former State where so many thousand lives had been lost in the Contest not so much whether they should serve or no but who should be their Master He was strangely mistaken sure in the Nature and Reason of things to Phansy that when Iulius was gone some body else would not start up in his place when there was yet a Tarquin found after so many Kings that were destroy'd either by Sword or Thunder And yet the Resolution is That he might have Receiv'd it but not as a Benefit for at that rate I owe my Life to every Man that does not take it away GRAECINUS IULIUS whom Caligula put to death out of a pure Malice to his Virtue had a considerable sum of Mony sent him from Fabius Persicus a Man of Great and Infamous Example as a Contribution toward the Expense of Playes and other Publick Entertainments but Iulius would not receive it and some of his Friends that had an Eye more upon the Present than the Presenter ask'd him with some freedome What he meant by refusing it Why sayes he Do you think that I 'll take Mony where I would not take so much as a Glass of Wine After this Rebilus a Man of the same stamp sent him a greater Sum upon the same score You must excuse me sayes he to the Messenger for I would not take any thing of Persicus neither TO match this Scruple of Receiving Mony with another of Keeping it and the Sum not above Three pence or a Groat at most There was a certain Pythagorean that Contracted with a Cobler for a pair of Shooes and some three or four days after going to pay him his Mony the shop was shut up and when he had knock'd a great while at the door Friend sayes a Fellow you may hammer your heart out there for the Man that you look for is dead And when our Friends are dead we hear no more News of them but yours that are to live again will shift well enough alluding to Pythagoras his Transmigration Upon this the Philosopher went away with his Mony chinking in his hand and well enough content to save it at last his Conscience took check at it and upon Reflection Though the Man be dead sayes he to Others he is alive to Thee pay him what thou owest him and so he went back presently and thrust it into his Shop through the Chink of the door Whatever we owe 't is our part to find where to pay it and to do it without asking too for whether the Creditor be good or bad the Debt is still the same IF a Benefit be forc'd upon me as from a Tyrant or a Superior where it may be dangerous to refuse this is rather Obeying than Receiving where the necessity destroyes the choice the way to know what I have a Mind to do is to leave me at liberty whether I will do it or no but it is yet a Benefit if a Man does me good in spite of my Teeth as it is none if I do any Man good against my Will A Man may both hate and yet Receive a Benefit at the same time the Mony is never the worse because a Fool that is not read in Quoines refuses to take it If the thing be good for the Receiver and so intended no matter how ill 't is taken Nay the Receiver may be oblig'd and not know it But there can be no Benefit which is unknown to the Giver Neither will I upon any Termes receive a Benefit from a Worthy Person that may do him a Mischief It is the part of an Enemy to save himself by doing another Man harm BUT Whatever we do let us be sure alwayes to keep a Grateful Mind It is not enough to say What Requital shall a Poor Man offer to a Prince or a Slave to his Patron When it is the glory of Gratitude that it depends only upon the good will Suppose a Man defends my Fame delivers me from Beggery saves my Life or gives me Liberty that is more than Life How shnll I be grateful to that Man I will receive cherish and rejoyce in the Benefit Take it kindly and it is requited not that the Debt it self is discaharg'd but it is nevertheless a discharge of the Conscience I will yet distinguish betwixt a Debtor that becomes Insolvent by Expenses upon Whores and Diee and another that is undone by Fire or Thieves Nor do I take this Gratitude for a payment but there is no danger I presume of being Arrested for such a Debt IN the Return of Benefits let us be ready and chearful but not pressing There is as much greatness of Mind in the Owing of a good Turn as in the doing of it and we must no more force a requital out of season than be wanting in it He that precipitates a Return does as good as say I am weary of being in this Mans Debt not but that the hastening of a Requital as a good Office is a Commendable Disposition but 't is another thing to do it as a discharge for it looks like casting off a heavy and a troublesome burthen 'T is for the Benefactor to say when he will receive it no matter for the Opinion of the World so long as I gratifie my own Conscience for I cannot be mistaken in my self but another may He that is over-sollicitous to return a Benefit thinks the other so likewise to receive it If he had rather we should keep it Why should we refuse and presume to dispose of his Treasure who may call it in or let it lye out at his choice 'T is as much a fault to receive what I ought not as not to give what I ought for the Giver has the Priviledge of Chusing his own time for receiving SOME are too proud in the conferring of Benefits others in the Receiving of them which is to say the Truth intolerable The same Rule serves both sides as in the Case of a Father and a Son a Husband and a Wife one Friend or Acquaintance and another where the Duties are known and common There are some that will not receive a Benefit but in Private nor thank you for 't but in your Ear or in a Corner there must be nothing under Hand and Seal no Brokers Notaries or Witnesses in the Case This is not so much a scruple of modesty as a kind of denying the Obligation and only a less harden'd Ingratitude Some receive Benefits so coldly and indifferently that a Man would think the Obligation lay on the other side
asking and when we have no value any further for the Benefit we do commonly care as little for the Author People follow their Interest one Man is Grateful for his Convenience and another Man is Ungrateful for the same Reason SOME are Ungrateful to their Country and their own Country no less Ungrateful to others so that the Complaint of Ingratitude reaches all Men. Does not the Son wish for the death of his Father the Husband for that of his Wife c. But Who can look for Gratitude in an Age of so many Gaping and Craving Appetites where all People take and none give In an Age of License to all sorts of Vanity and Wickedness as Lust Gluttony Avarice Envy Ambition Sloth Insolence Levity Contumacy Fear Rashness Private Discords and Publick Evils Extravagant and Groundless wishes Vain Confidences Sickly Affections Shameless Impieties Rapine Authoriz'd and the Violation of all things Sacred and Profane Obligations are pursu'd with Sword and Poyson Benefits are turn'd into Crimes and that Blood most Seditiously Spilt for which every honest Man should expose his own Those that should be the Preservers of their Country are the Destroyers of it and 't is matter of dignity to trample upon the Government The Sword gives the Law and Mercenaries take up Armes against their Masters Among these turbulent and unruly Motions What hope is there of finding honesty or good Faith which is the quietest of all Virtues There is no more lively Image of humane life than that of a conquer'd City there 's neither Mercy Modesty nor Religion and if we forget our Lives we may well forget our Benefits The World abounds with Examples of Ungrateful Persons and no less with those of Ungrateful Governments Was not Catiline Ungrateful Whose Malice aim'd not only at the Mastering of his Country but at the total destruction of it by calling in an Inveterate and Vindictive Enemy from beyond the Alpes to wreak their long thirsted-for Revenge and to Sacrifice the Lives of as many noble Romans as might serve to answer and appease the Ghosts of the Slaughter'd Gaules Was not Marius Ungrateful that from a Common Soldier being raised up to a Consul not only gave the Word for Civil Blood-shed and Massacres but was himself the Sign for the Execution and every Man he met in the Streets to whom he did not stretch out his Right-hand was Murther'd And Was not Sylla Ungrateful too that when he had waded up to the Gates in Humane Blood carry'd the Outrage into the City and there most barbarously cut two entire Legions to pieces in a Corner not only after the Victory but most perfidiously after quarter given them Good God that ever any Man should not only scape with Impunity but receive a Reward for so horrid a Villany Was not Pompey Ungrateful too who after three Consulships three Triumphs and so many honors Usurp'd before his time split the Common-wealth into three Parts and brought it to such a pass that there was no hope of Safety but by Slavery Only forsooth to abate the Envy of his Power he took other Partners with him into the Government as if that which was not lawful for any one might have been allowable for more dividing and distributing the Provinces and breaking all into a Triumvirate reserving still two parts of the three in his own Family And Was not Caesar Ungrateful also though to give him his due he was a Man of his Word Merciful in his Victories and never kill'd any Man but with his Sword in his hand Let us therefore forgive one another Only one Word more now for the shame of Ungrateful Governments Was not Camillus banish'd Scipio dismiss'd and Cicero exil'd and plunder'd But What is all this to those that are so mad as to dispute even the goodness of Heaven which gives us all and expects nothing again but continues giving to the most Unthankful and Complaining CHAP. XX. There can be no Law against Ingratitude INGRATITUDE is so dangerous to it self and so detestable to other people that Nature one would think had sufficiently provided against it without need of any other Law For every Ungrateful Man is his own Enemy and it seems superfluous to compell a Man to be kind to himself and to follow his own Inclinations This of all wickedness imaginable is certainly the Vice which does the most divide and distract Humane Nature Without the Exercise and the Commerce of Mutual Offices we can be neither happy nor safe for it is only Society that secures us Take us one by one and we are a Prey even to Brutes as well as to one another Nature has brought us into the World naked and unarm'd we have not the Teeth or the Paws of Lyons or Bears to make our selves terrible but by the two Blessings of Reason and Union we secure and defend our selves against Violence and Fortune This it is that makes Man the Master of all other Creatures who otherwise were scarce a Match for the weakest of them This is it that comforts us in Sickness in Age in Misery in Pains and in the woâ—…st of Calamities Take away this Combination and Mankind is dissociated and falls to pieces 'T is true that there is no Law established against this abominable Vice but we cannot say yet that it scapes unpunish'd for a publick hatred is certainly the greatest of all Penalties over and above that we lose the most valuable Blessing of Life in the not bestowing and Receiving of Benefits If Ingratitude were to be punish'd by a Law it would discredit the Obligation for a Benefit is to be Given not Lent And if we have no Return at all there 's no just Cause of Complaint for Gratitude were no Virtue if there were any danger in being Ungrateful There are Halters I know Hooks and Gibbets provided for Homicide Poyson Sacrilege and Rebellion but Ingratitude here upon Earth is only punish'd in the Schools all further pains and Inflictions being wholly remitted to Divine Justice And if a Man may Judge of the Conscience by the Countenance the Ungrateful Man is never without a Canker at his heart his Minâ—… and Aspect is sad and sollicitous whereas the other is alwayes Chearful and Serene AS there are no Laws Extant against Ingratitude So is it utterly Impossible to contrive any that in all Circumstances shall reach it If it were Actionable there would not be Courts enough in the whole World to try the Causes in There can be no setting of a day for the requiting of Benefits as for the payment of Mony nor any Estimate upon the Benefits themselves but the whole matter rests in the Conscience of both parties And then there are so many degrees of it that the same Rule will never serve all Beside that to proportion it as the Benefit is greater or less will be both impracticable and without Reason One good Turn saves my Life another my Freedom or peradventure my very Soul How shall any Law