On Benefits Chapter 11

Venio nunc ad ultimam partem. Qui gratiam refert, aliquid debet impendere, sicut, qui solvit, pecuniam ; nihil autem impendit, qui gratiam sibi refert, non magis quam consequitur, qui beneficium a se accepit. Beneficium et gratiae relatio ultro citro ire debent ; intra unum hominem non est vicissitudo. Qui gratiam refert, invicem prodest ei, a quo consecutus est aliquid. Qui sibi gratiam refert, cui prodest ? Sibi. Et quis non alio loco relationem gratiae, alio beneficium cogitat ? Qui gratiam refert sibi, sibi prodest. Et quis umquam ingratus hoc noluit facere ? Immo quis non ingratus fuit, ut hoc faceret ? "Si gratias," inquit, " nobis agere debemus, et gratiam referre debemus ; dicimus autem : ' Ago gratias mihi, quod illam uxorem nolui ducere ' et ' quod cum illo non contraxi societatem.' " Cum hoc dicimus, laudamus nos et, ut factum nostrum comprobemus, gratias agentium verbis abutimur. Beneficium est, quod potest, cum datum est, et non reddi ; qui sibi beneficium dat, non potest non recipere, quod dedit ; ergo non est beneficium. Alio tempore beneficium accipitur, alio redditur. In beneficio et hoc est probabile, hoc suspiciendum, quod aliquis, ut alteri prodesset, utilitatis interim suae oblitus est, quod alteri dedit ablaturus sibi. Hoc non facit, qui beneficium sibi dat. Beneficium dare socialis res est, aliquem conciliat, aliquem obligat , sibi dare non est socialis res, neminem conciliat, neminem obligat, neminem in spem inducit, ut dicat : " Hic homo colendus est ; illi beneficium dedit, dabit et mihi. " Beneficium est, quod quis non sua causa dat, sed eius, cui dat ; is autem, qui sibi beneficium dat, sua causa dat ; non est ergo beneficium.

I come now to the last part of this subject. The man who returns a kindness ought to expend something, just as he who repays expends money; but the man who returns a kindness to himself expends nothing, just as he who receives a benefit from himself gains nothing. A benefit and gratitude for it must pass to and fro between two persons; their interchange cannot take place within one man. He who returns a kindness does good in his turn to him from whom he has received something; but the man who returns his own kindness, to whom does he do good? To himself? Is there any one who does not regard the returning of a kindness, and the bestowal of a benefit, as distinct acts? 'He who returns a kindness to himself does good to himself.' Was any man ever unwilling to do this, even though he were ungrateful? nay, who ever was ungrateful from any other motive than this? "If," it is argued, "we are right in thanking ourselves, we ought to return our own kindness;" yet we say, "I am thankful to myself for having refused to marry that woman," or "for having refused to join a partnership with that man." When we speak thus, we are really praising ourselves, and make use of the language of those who return thanks to approve our own acts. A benefit is something which, when given, may or may not be returned. Now, he who gives a benefit to himself must needs receive what he gives; therefore, this is not a benefit. A benefit is received at one time, and is returned at another; (but when a man bestows a benefit upon himself, he both receives it and returns it at the same time). In a benefit, too, what we commend and admire is, that a man has for the time being forgotten his own interests, in order that he may do good to another; that he has deprived himself of something, in order to bestow it upon another. Now, he who bestows a benefit upon himself does not do this. The bestowal of a benefit is an act of companionship--it wins some man's friendship, and lays some man under an obligation; but to bestow it upon oneself is no act of companionship--it wins no man's friendship, lays no man under an obligation, raises no man's hopes, or leads him to say, "This man must be courted; he bestowed a benefit upon that person, perhaps he will bestow one upon me also." A benefit is a thing which one gives not for one's own sake, but for the sake of him to whom it is given; but he who bestows a benefit upon himself, does so for his own sake; therefore, it is not a benefit.

Je passe à la seconde partie. L’acquit d’un bienfait nécessite quelques frais, comme le payement d’une dette : or on ne fait nuls frais quand on s’acquitte envers soi, pas plus qu’on ne bénéficie à être son propre bienfaiteur. Le bienfait et le retour doivent aller de l’un à l’autre : il n’y a pas réciprocité dans le même individu. Donc s’acquitter c’est servir à son tour la personne de qui on a reçu : mais le retour envers nous-mêmes à qui profite-t-il ? à nous. Et qui n’envisage le retour comme venant d’ailleurs que le bienfait ? Se payer de retour, c’est faire une chose utile pour soi, et jamais ingrat se l’est-il refusée ? Et quel homme fut jamais ingrat pour autre chose que cela ? « Si l’on doit se savoir gré de certaines choses, nous dit-on, on doit aussi se témoigner de la reconnaissance. Or nous disons : « Je me sais gré de n’avoir pas voulu épouser telle femme, « faire société avec tel homme. » En parlant ainsi, nous faisons notre éloge, et, pour approuver notre action, nous employons abusivement les termes de la reconnaissance. J’appelle bienfait ce qu’on peut, même après l’avoir reçu, ne pas rendre ; l’homme qui s’accorde un bienfait ne peut pas ne point recouvrer ses avances : ce n’est donc pas un bienfait. Le bienfait s’accepte en un temps et se rend dans un autre. Ce qu’on approuve dans le bienfait, ce qu’on estime, c’est lorsque pour servir autrui l’homme oublie un moment son intérêt propre, c’est quand, pour donner, il se prive. Tel n’est point le cas de celui qui est son propre bienfaiteur. Le bienfait est une œuvre sociale qui nous acquiert un obligé, un ami ; se donner à soi n’a rien de social, ne nous vaut ni amitié ni obligation, n’engage à espérer, à se dire : « Voilà un homme à cultiver. Il a rendu service à celui-ci, il en fera autant pour moi. » Le bienfait, c'est ce qu'on donne, non à cause de soi, mais à cause de l'homme à qui l'on donne. Qui se donne à soi-même fait tout le contraire : ce n'est donc pas un bienfaiteur.