urn; since he does not require any offering from us, and we are
not capable of bestowing anything upon him: wherefore, a benefit is
desirable in itself. In it the advantage of the receiver is all that
is taken into consideration: we study this without regarding our own
interests. "Yet," argues our opponent, "you say that we ought to choose
with care the persons upon whom we bestow benefits, because neither do
husbandmen sow seed in the sand: now if this be true, we follow our own
interest in bestowing benefits, just as much as in ploughing and sowing:
for sowing is not desirable in itself. Besides this you inquire where
and how you ought to bestow a benefit, which would not need to be
done if the bestowal of a benefit was desirable in itself: because in
whatever place and whatever manner it might be bestowed, it still would
be a benefit." We seek to do honourable acts, solely because they are
honourable; yet even though we need think of nothing else, we consider
to whom we shall do them, and when, and how; for in these points the act
has its being. In like manner, when I choose upon whom I shall bestow
a benefit, and when I aim at making it a benefit; because if it were
bestowed upon a base person, it could neither be a benefit nor an
honourable action.

X. To restore what has been entrusted to one is desirable in itself; yet
I shall not always restore it, nor shall I do so in any place or at any
time you please. Sometimes it makes no difference whether I deny that I
have received it, or return it openly. I shall consider the interests
of the person to whom I am to return it, and shall deny that I have
received a deposit, which would injure him if returned. I shall act in
the same manner in bestowing a benefit: I shall consider when to give
it, to whom, in what manner, and on what grounds. Nothing ought to be
done without a reason: a benefit is not truly so, if it be bestowed
without a reason, since reason accompanies all honorable action. How
often do we hear men reproaching themselves for some thoughtless gift,
and saying, "I had rather have thrown it away than have given it to
him!" What is thoughtlessly given away is lost in the most discreditable
manner, and it is much worse to have bestowed a benefit badly than to
have received no return for it; that we receive no return is the fault
of another; that we did not choose upon whom we should bestow it, is our
own. In choosing a fit person, I shall not, as you expect, p