u
say, "he hoped for some profit also." Then it was not a benefit, the
property of which is to think nothing of any repayment. I receive what
was given me in the same spirit in which it was given: then I have
repaid it. If this be not true, then this best of deeds has this worst
of conditions attached to it, that it depends entirely upon fortune
whether I am grateful or not, for if my fortune is adverse I can make no
repayment. The intention is enough. What then? am I not to do whatever
I may be able to repay it, and ought I not ever to be on the watch for
an opportunity of filling the bosom [Footnote: Sinus, the fold of the
toga over the breast, used as a pocket by the Romans. The great French
actor Talma, when dressed for the first time in correct classical
costume, indignantly asked where he was to put his snuff-box.] of him
from whom I have received any kindness? True; but a benefit is in
an evil plight if we cannot be grateful for it even when we are
empty-handed.

XXXII. "A man," it is argued, "who has received a benefit, however
gratefully he may have received it, has not yet accomplished all his
duty, for there remains the part of repayment; just as in playing at
ball it is something to catch the ball cleverly and carefully, but a man
is not called a good player unless he can handily and quickly send
back the ball which he has caught." This analogy is imperfect; and why?
Because to do this creditably depends upon the movement and activity of
the body, and not upon the mind: and an act of which we judge entirely
by the eye, ought to be all clearly displayed. But if a man caught
the ball as he ought to do, I should not call him a bad player for not
returning it, if his delay in returning it was not caused by his own
fault. "Yet," say you, "although the player is not wanting in skill,
because he did one part of his duty, and was able to do the other part,
yet in such a case the game is imperfect, for its perfection lies in
sending the ball backwards and forwards." I am unwilling to expose this
fallacy further; let us think that it is the game, not the player that
is imperfect: so likewise in the subject which we are discussing, the
thing which is given lacks something, because another equal thing ought
to be returned for it, but the mind of the giver lacks nothing, because
it has found another mind equal to itself, and as far as intentions go,
has effected what it wished.

XXXIII. A man bestows a benefit upon me: