The wise man will inquire in his own mind into all the circumstances: how much he has received, from whom, when, where, how. And so we declare that none but the wise man knows how to make return for a favor; moreover, none but the wise man knows how to confer a benefit—that man, I mean, who enjoys the giving more than the recipient enjoys the receiving.
Now some person will reckon this remark as one of the generally surprising statements such as we Stoics are wont to make and such as the Greeks call “paradoxes,” and will say: “Do you maintain, then, that only the wise man knows how to return a favor? Do you maintain that no one else knows how to make restoration to a creditor for a debt? Or, on buying a commodity, to pay full value to the seller?”
In order not to bring any odium upon myself, let me tell you that Epicurus says the same thing. At any rate, Metrodorus remarks that only the wise man knows how to return a favor.
Again, the objector mentioned above wonders at our saying: “The wise man alone knows how to love, the wise man alone is a real friend.” And yet it is a part of love and of friendship to return favors; nay, further, it is an ordinary act, and happens more frequently than real friendship.
Again, this same objector wonders at our saying, “There is no loyalty except in the wise man,” just as if he himself does not say the same thing! Or do you think that there is any loyalty in him who does not know how to return a favor?
Now some person will reckon this remark as one of the generally surprising statements such as we Stoics are wont to make and such as the Greeks call “paradoxes,” and will say: “Do you maintain, then, that only the wise man knows how to return a favor? Do you maintain that no one else knows how to make restoration to a creditor for a debt? Or, on buying a commodity, to pay full value to the seller?”
In order not to bring any odium upon myself, let me tell you that Epicurus says the same thing. At any rate, Metrodorus remarks that only the wise man knows how to return a favor.
Again, the objector mentioned above wonders at our saying: “The wise man alone knows how to love, the wise man alone is a real friend.” And yet it is a part of love and of friendship to return favors; nay, further, it is an ordinary act, and happens more frequently than real friendship.
Again, this same objector wonders at our saying, “There is no loyalty except in the wise man,” just as if he himself does not say the same thing! Or do you think that there is any loyalty in him who does not know how to return a favor?
—from Seneca, Moral Letters 81
We are sometimes so fixated on the intensity of our passions, that we forget how a good heart must proceed from a sound mind, and why only understanding can make it possible for us to really love. It is wisdom that reveals the path of true benefit, so it is the wise who will be our true friends, knowing the fine art of both giving and receiving.
Time and time again, my attention is drawn back to a single notion in this letter, so simple yet so essential, about the greatest value of the gift being in the act of the offering itself. Whether he craves after pleasure, money, or fame, the grasping man is looking exclusively to the prospect of some external gain, oblivious to the fact that we actually profit the most when we spend of ourselves the most.
Simply put, a living creature is defined by what it does, not by what may be done to it, and a rational creature is defined by the excellence of its own judgments, not by how others may go about judging it. The rewards of the virtues are nothing more or less than the exercise of prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice, much like an athlete of character is focused on competing to the best of his ability, regardless of any other returns.
As the very fulfillment of our nature, virtue can have no further purpose or goal beyond itself. The covetous are tripped up by confusing the means with the ends, the lesser for the greater, the relative and the absolute. As Plato said, their guts rule their heads, instead of their heads ruling their guts.
The critics often accused the Stoics of believing in "paradoxes", though they only seem like contradictions to those who remain ignorant about first principles. They wondered how it is possible for pain to not be an evil, or for riches to not be a good, or for wisdom to be the sole currency, and this is because they were stubbornly attached to the things that ought to be treated with indifference, even if we happen to prefer them. Once the true source of the good is perceived, the supposed paradox immediately disappears.
No, Stoicism is not an easy path, but it will take a philosophy very much like it to find the peace of genuine liberation. Working out the early bits is the key to embracing the later bits.
I need not be shocked or offended when I am told that wisdom is the condition for loyalty, for friendship, and for love. I will find many cheap imitations, which go through the motions without committing to the task; this should not hinder me from remembering why a benefit can only be given or received in the proper context of the human good, with no strings attached.
When I remain unsettled, I think about what made the Samaritan worthy of a parable. End of story.
Time and time again, my attention is drawn back to a single notion in this letter, so simple yet so essential, about the greatest value of the gift being in the act of the offering itself. Whether he craves after pleasure, money, or fame, the grasping man is looking exclusively to the prospect of some external gain, oblivious to the fact that we actually profit the most when we spend of ourselves the most.
Simply put, a living creature is defined by what it does, not by what may be done to it, and a rational creature is defined by the excellence of its own judgments, not by how others may go about judging it. The rewards of the virtues are nothing more or less than the exercise of prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice, much like an athlete of character is focused on competing to the best of his ability, regardless of any other returns.
As the very fulfillment of our nature, virtue can have no further purpose or goal beyond itself. The covetous are tripped up by confusing the means with the ends, the lesser for the greater, the relative and the absolute. As Plato said, their guts rule their heads, instead of their heads ruling their guts.
The critics often accused the Stoics of believing in "paradoxes", though they only seem like contradictions to those who remain ignorant about first principles. They wondered how it is possible for pain to not be an evil, or for riches to not be a good, or for wisdom to be the sole currency, and this is because they were stubbornly attached to the things that ought to be treated with indifference, even if we happen to prefer them. Once the true source of the good is perceived, the supposed paradox immediately disappears.
No, Stoicism is not an easy path, but it will take a philosophy very much like it to find the peace of genuine liberation. Working out the early bits is the key to embracing the later bits.
I need not be shocked or offended when I am told that wisdom is the condition for loyalty, for friendship, and for love. I will find many cheap imitations, which go through the motions without committing to the task; this should not hinder me from remembering why a benefit can only be given or received in the proper context of the human good, with no strings attached.
When I remain unsettled, I think about what made the Samaritan worthy of a parable. End of story.
—Reflection written in 12/2013
IMAGE: Gustave Moreau, The Good Samaritan (c. 1865)
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