om our minds. The first and most powerful of these
is that, being always intent upon new objects of desire, we think, not
of what we have, but of what we are striving to obtain. Those whose mind
is fixed entirely upon what they hope to gain, regard with contempt all
that is their own already. It follows that since men's eagerness for
something new makes them undervalue whatever they have received, they
do not esteem those from whom they have received it. As long as we are
satisfied with the position we have gained, we love our benefactor, we
look up to him, and declare that we owe our position entirely to him;
then we begin to entertain other aspirations, and hurry forward to
attain them after the manner of human beings, who when they have gained
much always covet more; straightway all that we used to regard as
benefits slip from our memory, and we no longer consider the advantages
which we enjoy over others, but only the insolent prosperity of those
who have outstripped us. Now no one can at the same time be both jealous
and grateful, because those who are jealous are querulous and sad, while
the grateful are joyous. In the next place, since none of us think of
any time but the present, and but few turn back their thoughts to the
past, it results that we forget our teachers, and all the benefits
which we have obtained from them, because we have altogether left
our childhood behind us: thus, all that was done for us in our youth
perishes unremembered, because our youth itself is never reviewed. What
has been is regarded by every one, not only as past, but as gone; and
for the same reason, our memory is weak for what is about to happen in
the future.

IV. Here I must do Epicurus the justice to say that he constantly
complains of our ingratitude for past benefits, because we cannot bring
back again, or count among our present pleasures, those good things
which we have received long ago, although no pleasures can be more
undeniable than those which cannot be taken from us. Present good is not
yet altogether complete, some mischance may interrupt it; the future is
in suspense, and uncertain; but what is past is laid up in safety. How
can any man feel gratitude for benefits, if he skips through his
whole life entirely engrossed with the present and the future? It is
remembrance that mates men grateful; and the more men hope, the less
they remember.

V. In the same way, my Liberalis, as some things remain in our memory as
s