Translated by Sir Roger L'Estrange · 1882
One of the sources behind Seneca.
Chapter I.
OF BENEFITS IN GENERAL. It is, perhaps, one of the most pernicious errors of a rash and inconsiderate life, the common ignorance of the world in the matter of …
2 passages
Chapter Ii.
SEVERAL SORTS OF BENEFITS. We shall divide _benefits_ into _absolute_ and _vulgar_; the one appertaining to good life, the other is only matter of commerce. Th…
1 passage
Chapter Iii.
A SON MAY OBLIGE HIS FATHER, AND A SERVANT HIS MASTER. The question is (in the first place) whether it may not be possible for a father to owe more to a son, i…
4 passages
Chapter Iv.
IT IS THE INTENTION, NOT THE MATTER, THAT MAKES THE BENEFIT. The _good-will_ of the benefactor is the fountain of all benefits; nay it is the benefit itself, o…
3 passages
Chapter V.
THERE MUST BE JUDGMENT IN A BENEFIT, AS WELL AS MATTER AND INTENTION; AND ESPECIALLY IN THE CHOICE OF THE PERSON. As it is the _will_ that designs the benefit,…
1 passage
Chapter Vi.
THE MATTER OF OBLIGATIONS, WITH ITS CIRCUMSTANCES. Next to the choice of the _person_ follows that of the _matter_; wherein a regard must be had to time, place…
4 passages
Chapter Vii.
THE MANNER OF OBLIGING. There is not any benefit so glorious in itself, but it may yet be exceedingly sweetened and improved by the _manner_ of conferring it. …
4 passages
Chapter Viii.
THE DIFFERENCE AND VALUE OF BENEFITS. We have already spoken of _benefits_ in _general_; the _matter_ and the _intention_, together with the _manner_ of confer…
5 passages
Chapter Ix.
AN HONEST MAN CANNOT BE OUTDONE IN COURTESY. It passes in the world for a generous and magnificent saying, that “it is a shame for a man to be outdone in court…
2 passages
Chapter X.
THE QUESTION DISCUSSED, WHETHER OR NOT A MAN MAY GIVE OR RETURN A BENEFIT TO HIMSELF? There are many cases, wherein a man speaks of himself as of another. As, …
1 passage
Chapter Xi.
HOW FAR ONE MAN MAY BE OBLIGED FOR A BENEFIT DONE TO ANOTHER. The question now before us requires _distinction_ and _caution_. For though it be both natural an…
3 passages
Chapter Xii.
THE BENEFACTOR MUST HAVE NO BY-ENDS. We come now to the main point of the matter in question: that is to say, whether or not it be a thing desirable in itself,…
6 passages
Chapter Xiii.
THERE ARE MANY CASES WHEREIN A MAN MAY BE MINDED OF A BENEFIT, BUT IT IS VERY RARELY TO BE CHALLENGED, AND NEVER TO BE UPBRAIDED. If the world were wise, and a…
6 passages
Chapter Xiv.
HOW FAR TO OBLIGE OR REQUITE A WICKED MAN. There are some benefits whereof a wicked man is wholly incapable; of which hereafter. There are others, which are be…
6 passages
Chapter Xv.
A GENERAL VIEW OF THE PARTS AND DUTIES OF THE BENEFACTOR. The three main points in the question of benefits are, first, a _judicious choice_ in the _object_; s…
4 passages
Chapter Xvi.
HOW THE RECEIVER OUGHT TO BEHAVE HIMSELF. There are certain rules in common betwixt the giver and the receiver. We must do both cheerfully, that the giver may …
6 passages
Chapter Xvii.
OF GRATITUDE. He that preaches gratitude, pleads the cause both of God and man; for without it we can neither be sociable nor religious. There is a strange del…
4 passages
Chapter Xviii.
GRATITUDE MISTAKEN. To refuse a good office, not so much because we do not need it, as because we would not be indebted for it, is a kind of fantastical ingrat…
3 passages
Chapter Xix.
OF INGRATITUDE. Ingratitude is of all the crimes, that which we are to account the most venial in others, and the most unpardonable in ourselves. It is impious…
5 passages
Chapter Xx.
THERE CAN BE NO LAW AGAINST INGRATITUDE. Ingratitude is so dangerous to itself, and so detestable to other people, that nature, one would think, had sufficient…
3 passages
Chapter I.
OF A HAPPY LIFE, AND WHEREIN IT CONSISTS. There is not any thing in this world, perhaps, that is more talked of, and less understood, than the business of a _h…
2 passages
Chapter Ii.
HUMAN HAPPINESS IS FOUNDED UPON WISDOM AND VIRTUE; AND FIRST, OF WISDOM. Taking for granted that _human happiness_ is founded upon _wisdom_ and _virtue_ we sha…
6 passages
Chapter Iii.
THERE CAN BE NO HAPPINESS WITHOUT VIRTUE. Virtue is that perfect good which is the complement of a _happy life_; the only immortal thing that belongs to mortal…
9 passages
Chapter Iv.
PHILOSOPHY IS THE GUIDE OF LIFE. If it be true, that the _understanding_ and the _will_ are the _two eminent faculties of the reasonable soul_, it follows nece…
7 passages
Chapter V.
THE FORCE OF PRECEPTS. There seems to be so near an affinity betwixt _wisdom_, _philosophy_, and _good counsels_, that it is rather matter of curiosity than of…
8 passages
Chapter Vi.
NO FELICITY LIKE PEACE OF CONSCIENCE. “A good conscience is the testimony of a good life, and the reward of it.” This is it that fortifies the mind against for…
4 passages
Chapter Vii.
A GOOD MAN CAN NEVER BE MISERABLE, NOR A WICKED MAN HAPPY. There is not in the scale of nature a more inseparable connection of cause and effect, than in the c…
6 passages
Chapter Viii.
THE DUE CONTEMPLATION OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE IS THE CERTAIN CURE OF ALL MISFORTUNES. Whoever observes the world, and the order of it, will find all the motions i…
8 passages
Chapter Ix.
OF LEVITY OF MIND, AND OTHER IMPEDIMENTS OF A HAPPY LIFE. Now, to sum up what is already delivered, we have showed what happiness is, and wherein it consists: …
7 passages
Chapter X.
HE THAT SETS UP HIS REST UPON CONTINGENCIES SHALL NEVER BE QUIET. Never pronounce any man happy that depends upon fortune for his happiness; for nothing can be…
6 passages
Chapter Xi.
A SENSUAL LIFE IS A MISERABLE LIFE. The sensuality that we here treat of falls naturally under the head of luxury; which extends to all the excesses of glutton…
8 passages
Chapter Xii.
AVARICE AND AMBITION ARE INSATIABLE AND RESTLESS. The man that would be truly rich must not increase his fortune, but retrench his appetites: for riches are no…
7 passages
Chapter Xiii.
HOPE AND FEAR ARE THE BANE OF HUMAN LIFE. No man can be said to be perfectly happy that runs the risk of disappointment: which is the case of every man that _f…
4 passages
Chapter Xiv.
IT IS ACCORDING TO THE TRUE OR FALSE ESTIMATE OF THINGS THAT WE ARE HAPPY OR MISERABLE. How many things are there that the fancy makes terrible by night, which…
4 passages
Chapter Xv.
THE BLESSINGS OF TEMPERANCE AND MODERATION. There is not anything that is necessary to us but we have it either _cheap_ or _gratis_: and this is the provision …
11 passages
Chapter Xvi.
CONSTANCY OF MIND GIVES A MAN REPUTATION, AND MAKES HIM HAPPY IN DESPITE OF ALL MISFORTUNE. The whole duty of man may be reduced to the two points of _abstinen…
9 passages
Chapter Xvii.
OUR HAPPINESS DEPENDS IN A GREAT MEASURE UPON THE CHOICE OF OUR COMPANY. The comfort of life depends upon conversation. Good offices, and concord, and human so…
4 passages
Chapter Xviii.
THE BLESSINGS OF FRIENDSHIP. Of all felicities, the most charming is that of a _firm_ and _gentle friendship_. It sweetens all our cares, dispels our sorrows, …
5 passages
Chapter Xix.
HE THAT WOULD BE HAPPY MUST TAKE AN ACCOUNT OF HIS TIME. In the distribution of human life, we find that a great part of it passes away in _evil doing_; a grea…
7 passages
Chapter Xx.
HAPPY IS THE MAN THAT MAY CHOOSE HIS OWN BUSINESS. Oh the blessings of privacy and leisure! The wish of the powerful and eminent, but the privilege only of inf…
6 passages
Chapter Xxi.
THE CONTEMPT OF DEATH MAKES ALL THE MISERIES OF LIFE EASY TO US. It is a hard task to master the natural desire of life by a philosophical contempt of death, a…
10 passages
Chapter Xxii.
CONSOLATIONS AGAINST DEATH, FROM THE PROVIDENCE AND THE NECESSITY OF IT. This life is only a prelude to eternity, where we are to expect another original, and …
7 passages
Chapter Xxiii.
AGAINST IMMODERATE SORROW FOR THE DEATH OF FRIENDS. Next to the encounter of death in our own bodies, the most sensible calamity to an honest man is the death …
5 passages
Chapter Xxiv.
CONSOLATION AGAINST BANISHMENT AND BODILY PAIN. It is a masterpiece to draw good out of evil; and, by the help of virtue, to improve misfortunes into blessings…
3 passages
Chapter Xxv.
POVERTY TO A WISE MAN IS RATHER A BLESSING THAN A MISFORTUNE. No man shall ever be poor that goes to himself for what he wants; and that is the readiest way to…
4 passages
Chapter I.
ANGER DESCRIBED, IT IS AGAINST NATURE, AND ONLY TO BE FOUND IN MAN. We are here to encounter the most outrageous, brutal, dangerous, and intractable of all pas…
4 passages
Chapter Ii.
THE RISE OF ANGER. The question will be here, whether _anger_ takes its rise from impulse or judgment; that is, whether it be moved of its own accord, or, as m…
3 passages
Chapter Iii.
ANGER MAY BE SUPPRESSED. It is an idle thing to pretend that we cannot govern our _anger_; for some things that we do are much harder than others that we ought…
4 passages
Chapter Iv.
IT IS A SHORT MADNESS, AND A DEFORMED VICE. He was much in the right, whoever it was, that first called _anger a short madness_; for they have both of them the…
2 passages
Chapter V.
ANGER IS NEITHER WARRANTABLE NOR USEFUL. In the first place, Anger is _unwarrantable_ as it is _unjust_: for it falls many times upon the wrong person, and dis…
9 passages
Chapter Vi.
ANGER IN GENERAL, WITH THE DANGER AND EFFECTS OF IT. There is no surer argument of a great mind than not to be transported to anger by any accident; the clouds…
11 passages
Chapter Vii.
THE ORDINARY GROUNDS AND OCCASIONS OF ANGER. In this wandering state of life we meet with many occasions of trouble and displeasure, both great and trivial; an…
5 passages
Chapter Viii.
ADVICE IN THE CASES OF CONTUMELY AND REVENGE. Of provocations to anger there are two sorts; there is an _injury_, and there is a _contumely_. The former in its…
6 passages
Chapter Ix.
CAUTIONS AGAINST ANGER IN THE MATTER OF EDUCATION, CONVERSE, AND OTHER GENERAL RULES OF PREVENTING IT, BOTH IN OURSELVES AND OTHERS. All that we have to say in…
7 passages
Chapter X.
AGAINST RASH JUDGMENT. It is good for every man to fortify himself on his weak side: and if he loves his peace he must not be inquisitive, and hearken to tale-…
5 passages
Chapter Xi.
TAKE NOTHING ILL FROM ANOTHER MAN, UNTIL YOU HAVE MADE IT YOUR OWN CASE. It is not prudent to deny a pardon to any man, without first examining if we stand not…
3 passages
Chapter Xii.
OF CRUELTY. There is so near an affinity betwixt _anger_ and _cruelty_, that many people confound them; as if _cruelty_ were only the _execution_ of _anger_ in…
23 passages