On Benefits Chapter 16

Urbem cuidam Alexander donabat, vesanus et qui nihil animo nisi grande conciperet. Cum ille, cui donabatur, se ipse mensus tanti muneris invidiam refugisset dicens non convenire fortunae suae : " Non quaero," inquit, " quid te accipere deceat, sed quid me dare." Animosa vox videtur et regia, cum sit stultissima. Nihil enim per se quemquam decet ; refert, qui det, cui, quando, quare, ubi, et cetera, sine quibus facti ratio non constabit. Tumidissimum animal ! Si illum accipere hoc non decet, nec te dare; habetur personarum ac dignitatium portio et, cum sit ubique virtus modus, aeque peccat, quod excedit, quam quod deficit. Liceat istud sane tibi et te in tantum fortuna sustulerit, ut congiaria tua urbes sint (quas quanto maioris animi fuit non capere quam spargere !) : est tamen aliquis minor, quam in sinu eius condenda sit civitas !

Alexander, who was of unsound mind, and always full of magnificent ideas, presented somebody with a city. When the man to whom he gave it had reflected upon the scope of his own powers, he wished to avoid the jealousy which so great a present would excite, saying that the gift did not suit a man of his position. "I do not ask," replied Alexander, "what is becoming for you to receive, but what is becoming for me to give." This seems a spirited and kingly speech, yet really it is a most foolish one. Nothing is by itself a becoming gift for any one: all depends upon who gives it, to whom he gives it, when, for what reason, where, and so forth, without which details it is impossible to argue about it. Inflated creature! if it did not become him to receive this gift, it could not become thee to give it. There should be a proportion between men's characters and the offices which they fill; and as virtue in all cases should be our measure, he who gives too much acts as wrongly as he who gives too little. Even granting that fortune has raised you so high, that, where other men give cups, you give cities (which it would show a greater mind in you not to take than to take and squander), still there must be some of your friends who are not strong enough to put a city in their pockets.

Ce fou d’Alexandre, qui n’avait dans l’esprit que des idées gigantesques, faisait présent d’une ville à je ne sais quel particulier. Cet homme, se mesurant lui-même avec la grandeur d’une telle offre, la refusa comme devant trop l’exposer à l’envie, et comme disproportionnée pour sa condition. « Je n’examine point, dit le monarque, ce qu’il te convient d’accepter, mais ce qu’il me convient de donner. » Réponse en apparence héroïque et royale, au fond très-absurde. La convenance n’est jamais absolue : elle est relative à la chose, à la personne, aux temps, aux motifs, aux lieux, à mille accessoires, sans lesquels la raison du fait n’existe plus. O le plus présomptueux des êtres ! S’il ne lui convient pas de recevoir, te convient-il mieux de donner ? Garde une proportion entre les personnes et les dignités : toute vertu a ses bornes, et l’excès n’en est pas moins blâmable que le défaut. Libre à toi, j’y consens, grâce à ta haute fortune, de vouloir que tes cadeaux soient des villes ; et il était certes plus grand de ne pas les prendre que de les jeter aux premiers venus ; tel homme du moins est trop petit, pour que dans le pan de sa robe tu doives fourrer une cité.