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A02806
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The line of liberalitie dulie directinge the wel bestowing of benefites and reprehending the comonly vsed vice of ingratitude. Anno. 1569.; De beneficiis. Book 1-3. English
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Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, ca. 4 B.C.-65 A.D.; Haward, Nicholas.
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1569
(1569)
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STC 12939; ESTC S103875
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92,810
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272
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commendacion of the fact were gone And this I say was the cause that made men so charye from passing any Law for redresse of this vyce Chap. 14. VErelye if it were possible that there might a Law be made for the punishement of this vice of ingratitude we should haue lesse nomber of plesours done but then they that were done would then be better done And assuredly they that heretofore wold neuer make Lawe against it yet for all that they themselues very aduisedly and with great héed and warines did bestow such benefites and plesours as they shewed to any meanyng therby as it should séeme that their suche example of charines myght also direct vs to take dewe regard and respect whom we admitted and allowed woorthie on whome wee woulde dispose and bestowe our beneficence In whiche behalf if you stande fullie assured and perswaded before you bestow your benefites that he that is to receiue them is worthie to haue them I dare then warraunt you from hauynge cause iustlye of desier to vse anye accion for the recoueryng it again When thou art to bestow anye benefâ—ts regard onelye the honestie of the Receiuer In soo doing thye benefites are done as they shoulde be and become famous But if thou shouldest make pleadyng matters of them thou shouldest digrace theÌ„ quite It is I graunt a conscionable sayeng and most agreing with Lawe to saye Paye that thou owest And yet touchyng benefites it is the fowlest and moste vnséemely sayeng and fullest of discourtesie to saye Paye For what shoulde he paye Sometime he oweth his lyfe hys helthe hys welthe and sometime suche weighty thinges can not be paide themselues nor any things els that may couÌ„teruayle the same This is it that I saye The worthines of so precious a thynge as a Benefit is shalbe quite loste if wée make marchaundise of it We should not enforce nor willingly apply our mindes to couetousnes sekyng of quarells and discension it is to prone of it selfe to suche matters if haplye any suche cause begin to grow let vs cut it of rather theÌ„ encrease it Chap. 15. WHat will some say shall the Ingrate and vnthankefull person escape quite go vnpunished Then pardon also the wicked man the â—awghtipacke the couetous niggard the skornefull and disdainfull man and the Tyraunt Whye thynke you that those factes that are hated and despited maye be sayde to escape vnpunished What more greuouse punishement can there be layde vppon anye manne then to bee hated dedlye of all menne He maye thynke it punyshment enough that he dare not desyer anye thynge of anye manne for feare to bee noted marked and pointed at of euerye manne or at least to thynke that he is soo and to knowe that he hathe loste the estimacion of the beaste and chefest Iewelles of the woorlâ—e to wytte hys honestie credit and estimacion Doe you not count hym vnfortunate that hath loste the vse of hys eyes or whose hearynge is quitte stopt vppe Then iudge him a verye wretched man that hath altogether lost the vnderstanding of suche plesours as haue bene shewed vnto him Suche one ought to think with himself that he allwayes standeth in the daunger and displesour of the goddes who are Recorde bearers and wil be Reuengers of his sayd Ingratitude Besides his owne gylty conscience cesseth not continually to molest accuse him And thinke you it not punishment sufficient the continual remembraunce of the losse of so many woorthie thinges as he therby doth lose Loke who taketh pleasour and delectacion aright at the receiuing of a Benefyt retayneth still and reuiueth it and maketh a continuall pleasour of it by oft remembring the sameâ— reioycing not alone in the thing whyâ—he he hath but also in the fréendly minde of him at whose handes he receiued the same But the vnthankfull man reioyceth but onely ones if he do that namely at that instant wheÌ„ he receiueth the Benefit There is moreouer great diuersitie betwene their two liues For the one of them is allwayes sad and sorowefull to wyt thunthankfull man who honoureth neyther his Parents nor his scolemaster nor his bringars vp dewely as he shold do And contrariwise the thankfull bodye is allwayes mery and pleasaunt allwayes séekyng occasion to requite the benefits which he hath receyued and is gretlye delighted if he find it not sekyng howe he may fully digest it but studieng after what sorte he maye fully and thoroughly aunswere the same and that not to his parentes alone but to hys frinde allso and eche simple wyght that hath anye maner of wayes benefyted him And if his bondman happen to doo him a plesour streight waye he weigheth not of whome but what it was that he receyued Chap. 16. HOwbeit some ther are as Hecaton for one which dout whether a bondman or seruaunt may doo any thing that maye deserue y e name of a benefit to his master therefore they make this diuision that there are Benefites deuties or good endeuours seruices Benefits they cal those plesours which any straungers doo to vs. A strauÌ„ger they cal in this respect such one as may when him listeth cessâ— and desist from so benefityng vs. Good endeuours or deuties those plesours or freÌ„dly tournes which y e Children doo to their pareÌ„ts wyues to their husbaÌ„des or coÌ„trarywise or any one of them to an other whom affinitie allyaunce of bloud doth wil coÌ„maund to help socour eche other mutually Seruices they call suche as the seruaunt doth to his master whoÌ„ fortune hath placed in suche degrée that whatsoeuer he do in his maisters behalf he moste thynke it all but his dutye Whosoeuer for all that doth denye that the seruaunt maye benefyt his mayster declareth himself not to knowe what is ryght For onely it is to be regarded of what mind he was that did the benefit and not of what degrée Uertew penneth her self vp from no body she sheweth offreth herself to euery bodye to be had She admitteth all that wilbe sewters And those that haply passe by her without regard she calleth back of her owne accord Fréeborn frée made bondslaues banished men and Princes all a lyke She choseth neyther the house nor the degrée She contenteth herself aswell w t the naked man despoiled froÌ„ al giftes of fortune as with him that hath theÌ„ all in most abundaunce For though Fortune beare great sway in y e world yet vertew triumpheth ouer her If you will saye that a seruaunt can not doo a benefitte to hys mayster then will I auerre that it is not possible for a Subiect too doo it to his king or a Souldiour to his Capitain For though there are diuers respectes and sondrye tytles of the king the Capitaine and the mayster yet in thys point they are al one touching y e dewty of them that are vnder them and at theyr commaundement For as the kyng hath his subiectes and the captaine his souldiours
degenerat that vnneth saf sauinge line of bloude and lineall discent wee sauour nowhytte of them Asfor their welthe honours dignities and preâ—errementes to whiche they were aduaunced for their noblenes namely their vertâ—wes were but only signes and shews and rewardes of noblenes Which who that hath by succession of inheritaunce enioyeth as in the Romaine weale publique he that had saued a Citizens lyfe and had merited y â— reward therof a garlande called Corona ciuica might leaue the same to his posteritie Who myght glory therin not for their owne factes but for the actes of an other who therby left to them an example of encouragement of attempting the lyke Contemne noman be he neuer so base and vnnoble of fame and simply preferd by fortunes giftes whether they haue bene bond heretofore or now presentlye are bond or people of farre and straunge contrâ—yâ—s of what estate or degre soeuer they be of lette them fortifie themselues and be of good cowrage Attaine vertewes shew them selues worthie and thinke not but as perfit nobility attendeth them as any other Why shoulde wee be so puffed vp with pryde that we shoulde take scorne to accept benefits and acknowledge the recept of the same at our seruauntes haÌ„des Onely regarding their estate and forgetting their desertes Chap. 27. THis thought I good and necessary to be sayde both for the repressing of the wanton pryde and folly of those men who alltogether hang on fortunes sléeue and also for the mainteinyng the right acceptaunce and trewe vnderstandynge of suche plesour and benefites as seruauntes maye doo to their maisters defendinge the same shewed by Children to their parents For it hath bene dowted by som whether Children can doo to their parentes any gretter benefits then they haue receiued of them Towching whiche matter this I know wilbe graunted that possible it is that Children may attaine to gretter welth aspire to higher promocions then euer their parents did that which is more to be better also which being so it maye be that they may also geue far better thiÌ„ges for that their fortune is better and perhaps their well meaning hart also But some may happen to say Well let the Child geue what he is able to his parentes it is yet lesse then dutie may duly demaund at his hands for that he oweth to them euen all that abilitie of geuyng as which without them he could not haue had So that it is not possible for hym to be ouercome with an other mans benefit wose precedent benefit was y e causer of that that was subsequent But see how greatly they are deceiued that are of this opinion At the first you know well a nomber of thinges take their originall and beginning of other thinges whyche notwithstanding in processe of time out-growe their sayde beginninges farre We sée that séedes are the caâ—ses of many thinges and yet are they the smallest of those thinges which by theÌ„ take their beginninges Behold Rhine Euphrates what are they and all the other notable and famouse Riuers that are ells where if we regarde the heddes onely from whense they â—irste breake out if there be any cause whye they are regarded they take it a great waye of from the head The great churches and Cyties walles stande not without their foundacions and yet that which is the grouÌ„d woorke and staye of all lyeth hyd vnder the ground and is not séene So fareth it in euerye other thynge For the subsequent encrease and groweth shadoweth quite and ouerwhelmeth as it were oftentimes the beginninges of the same I coulde not you saye haue had my being without which I had neuer attained to these thinges if my Father had not begot me nomore could I if after my Fathers begetting and time of my birth my Nurse had not fostred me vp Chap. 28. BUt let vs goe roundly too worke and proue y t though the sonne haue bene benefited by his Father verye muche yet he may rendre asmuche againe and more to Admitte my Father as â—e begatte me wherby he gaue me my beginning so he fostred me vp whereby I tooke encrease also If I render the lyke of the last part I render more then I receiued For in this case he shal haue to reioyce not onely that he is nourished but also that he is nowrished of his soÌ„ne taking more comforth in my naturall minde then delectacion or pleasour in the thing it self whiche he receyueth Again what and if any man should so vse himself that eyther for his eloqueÌ„ce his woorthie knowledge in Ciuill or Martial pollicie he becommeth famous and by the noblenes of his said vertewes shaketh of the darkenes and obscuritye of his base parentage and by meane of hys woorthines causeth the report of his fathers name to be crowned with perpetuall fame might not he worthely be said to haue done an inestimable beneâ—it to his parents Ariston and Grillus doutles long sith had bene raked vp in the duste and bene as if they had neuer bene with out all report if Xenophon and Plato their worthie sonnes had not by their noble memory caused theÌ„ also to be still remembred And wher had the famouse name of Sophroniscus bene now become if Socrates his sonne had not as it were made him liue a new It were ouer tedious and to long to goo about to recount here the names of al those whose names certeinlye hadde neuer continewed vnto these dayes had it not bene that thexcellent vertewes of their sonnes made theÌ„ famouse to their posteritie and as it wer immortalized them An infinite nomber of them assuredly had bene shut vp in the depe dungeon of obliuion if the famous memory of their soÌ„nes had not deliuered theÌ„ froÌ„ that dime darkenes And though perhapps eche benefit y â— the childreÌ„ may doo to their parents seuerally considered and apart by himself be not able to couÌ„teruaile the desertes of their said parentes yet a multitude of them conioyned may be able to matche them passe them also Chap. 29. IT was Scipioes chauÌ„ce to saue his Father in a great and sharp battel which to do he was forst being asyet but a very child to put spurs to his horse and abandone himself into y e thickest of his enemyes before he coulde come to the place wher his Father was And setting light by any neuer so perillouse aduenture that might befal stucke no whit to take to task any y e most beten and practised souldiours of his enemies far vnfit matches for his age or experience of dealing in wars as who that neuer before that time hadde bene in war fare The same Scipio also an other time pleaded his Fathers case at what time he was accused and by his well handeling of the matter discharged him from a great conspiracie of some that pretended his deth He also procured his father to be chosen Consull thrise arowe and aduaunced him to other honours Besydes all