On Benefits
Seneca · English
On Benefits is a treatise in seven books by Seneca, the Roman Stoic philosopher and adviser to Nero, addressed to his friend Aebutius Liberalis.
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Pagera Editor's Note
On Benefits is a treatise in seven books by Seneca, the Roman Stoic philosopher and adviser to Nero, addressed to his friend Aebutius Liberalis. Seneca examines how a benefit should be given, received and repaid, why ingratitude is so common and so harmful, whether kindness and gratitude are worth pursuing for their own sake, what it means to be outdone in a contest of kindness, and whether a benefit can be taken away by force. The final book draws on the Cynic Demetrius to ask what is truly worth possessing. This English translation is by Aubrey Stewart, whose preface is dated 1887.
On Benefits
Seneca · English
On Benefits is a treatise in seven books by Seneca, the Roman Stoic philosopher and adviser to Nero, addressed to his friend Aebutius Liberalis.
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Original (English)
Seneca, the favourite classic of the early fathers of the church and of the Middle Ages, whom Jerome, Tertullian, and Augustine speak of as "Seneca noster," who was believed to have corresponded with St. Paul, and upon whom [Footnote: On the "De Clementia," an odd subject for the man who burned Servetus alive for differing with him.] Calvin wrote a commentary, seems almost forgotten in modern times. Perhaps some of his popularity may have been due to his being supposed to be the author of those tragedies which the world has long ceased to read, but which delighted a period
Pagera Editor's Note
On Benefits is a treatise in seven books by Seneca, the Roman Stoic philosopher and adviser to Nero, addressed to his friend Aebutius Liberalis. Seneca examines how a benefit should be given, received and repaid, why ingratitude is so common and so harmful, whether kindness and gratitude are worth pursuing for their own sake, what it means to be outdone in a contest of kindness, and whether a benefit can be taken away by force. The final book draws on the Cynic Demetrius to ask what is truly worth possessing. This English translation is by Aubrey Stewart, whose preface is dated 1887.
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