L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits
darkness of eternal night; who, by his circuit, orders the seasons
of the year, gives strength to our bodies, brings forth our crops and
ripens our fruits, is merely a mass of stone, or a fortuitous collection
of fiery particles, or anything rather than a god. Yet, nevertheless,
like the kindest of parents, who only smile at the spiteful words of
their children, the gods do not cease to heap benefits upon those
who doubt from what source their benefits are derived, but continue
impartially distributing their bounty among all the peoples and nations
of the earth. Possessing only the power of doing good, they moisten
the land with seasonable showers, they put the seas in movement by the
winds, they mark time by the course of the constellations, they temper
the extremes of heat and cold, of summer and winter, by breathing a
milder air upon us; and they graciously and serenely bear with the
faults of our erring spirits. Let us follow their example; let us give,
even if much be given to no purpose, let us, in spite of this, give to
others; nay, even to those upon whom our bounty has been wasted. No one
is prevented by the fall of a house from building another; when one home
has been destroyed by fire, we lay the foundations of another before the
site has had time to cool; we rebuild ruined cities more than once
upon the same spots, so untiring are our hopes of success. Men would
undertake no works either on land or sea if they were not willing to try
again what they have failed in once."
XXXII. Suppose a man is ungrateful, he does not injure me, but himself;
I had the enjoyment of my benefit when I bestowed it upon him. Because
he is ungrateful, I shall not be slower to give but more careful; what I
have lost with him, I shall receive back from others. But I will bestow
a second benefit upon this man himself, and will overcome him even as a
good husbandman overcomes the sterility of the soil by care and culture;
if I do not do so my benefit is lost to me, and he is lost to mankind.
It is no proof of a great mind to give and to throw away one's bounty;
the true test of a great mind is to throw away one's bounty and still to
give.