eeds push his shoes into a senator's
face.

XIII. O pride, the silliest fault of great good fortune! how pleasant
it is to take nothing from thee! how dost thou turn all benefits into
outrages! how dost thou delight in all excess! how ill all things become
thee! The higher thou risest the lower thou art, and provest that
the good things by which thou art so puffed up profit thee not; thou
spoilest all that thou givest. It is worth while to inquire why it is
that pride thus swaggers and changes the form and appearance of her
countenance, so that she prefers a mask to her own face. It is pleasant
to receive gifts when they are conferred in a kindly and gentle manner,
when a superior in giving them does not exalt himself over me, but shows
as much good feeling as possible, placing himself on a level with me,
giving without parade, and choosing a time when I am glad of his help,
rather than waiting till I am in the bitterest need. The only way by
which you can prevail upon proud men not to spoil their gifts by their
arrogance is by proving to them that benefits do not appear greater
because they are bestowed with great pomp and circumstance; that no one
will think them greater men for so doing, and that excessive pride is a
mere delusion which leads men to hate even what they ought to love.

XIV. There are some things which injure those who receive them, things
which it is not a benefit to give but to withhold; we should therefore
consider the usefulness of our gift rather than the wish of the
petitioner to receive it; for we often long for hurtful things, and are
unable to discern how ruinous they are, because our judgment is biassed
by our feelings; when, however, the longing is past, when that frenzied
impulse which masters our good sense has passed away, we abhor those
who have given us hurtful gifts. As we refuse cold water to the sick,
or swords to the grief-stricken or remorseful, and take from the insane
whatever they might in their delirium use to their own destruction, so
must we persist in refusing to give anything whatever that is hurtful,
although our friends earnestly and humbly, nay, sometimes even most
piteously beg for it. We ought to look at the end of our benefits as
well as the beginning, and not merely to give what men are glad to
receive, but what they will hereafter be glad to have received. There
are many who say, "I know that this will do him no good, but what am I
to do? he begs for it, I cannot w