Des bienfaits Chapitre 35

Itaque attende, iam intellegis nihil me, quod opinio tua refugiat, dicere. Illi beneficio, quod actio perficit, relata gratia est, si illud benevole excipimus ; illud alterum, quod re continetur, nondum reddidimus, sed volemus reddere. Voluntati voluntate satis fecimus ; rei rem debemus. Itaque, quamvis rettulisse illum gratiam dicamus, qui beneficium libenter accipit, iubemus tamen et simile aliquid ei, quod accepit, reddere. A consuetudine quaedam, quae dicimus, abhorrent, deinde alia via ad consuetudinem redeunt. Negamus iniuriam accipere sapientem, tamen, qui illum pugno percusserit, iniuriarum damnabitur ; negamus stulti quidquam esse, et tamen eum, qui rem aliquam stulto surripuit, furti condemnabimus ; insanire omnes dicimus, nec omnes curamus elleboro ; his ipsis, quos vocamus insanos, et suffragium et iuris dictionem committimus. Sic dicimus eum, qui beneficium bono animo accipit, gratiam rettulisse, nihilo minus illum in aere alieno relinquimus gratiam relaturum, etiam cum rettulit. Exhortatio est illa, non infitiatio beneficii, ne beneficia timeamus, ne ut intolerabili sarcina pressi deficiamus animo. " Bona mihi donata sunt et fama defensa, detractae sordes, spiritus servatus et libertas spiritu potior. Et quomodo referre gratiam potero ? Quando ille veniet dies, quo illi animum meum ostendam ? " Hic ipse est, quo ille suum ostendit ! Excipe beneficium, amplexare, gaude, non quod accipias, sed quod reddas debiturusque sis ; non adibis tam magnae rei periculum, ut casus ingratum facere te possit. Nullas tibi proponam difficultates, ne despondeas animum, ne laborum ac longae servitutis expectatione deficias ; non differo te, de praesentibus fiat. Numquam eris gratus, nisi statim es. Quid ergo facies ? Non arma sumenda sunt : at fortasse erunt. Non maria emetienda : fortasse etiam ventis minantibus solves. Vis reddere beneficium ? Benigne accipe ; rettulisti gratiam, non ut solvisse te putes, sed ut securior debeas.

Wherefore, give me your attention, and you will soon perceive that I say nothing to which you can object. That benefit which consists of the action is repaid when we receive it graciously; that other, which consists of something material, we have not then repaid, but we hope to do so. The debt of goodwill has been discharged by a return of goodwill; the material debt demands a material return. Thus, although we may declare that he who has received a benefit with good-will has returned the favour, yet we counsel him to return to the giver something of the same kind as that which he has received. Some part of what we have said departs from the conventional line of thought, and then rejoins it by another path. We declare that a wise man cannot receive an injury; yet, if a man hits him with his fist, that man will be found guilty of doing him an injury. We declare that a fool can possess nothing; yet if a man stole anything from a fool, we should find that man guilty of theft. We declare that all men are mad, yet we do not dose all men with hellebore; but we put into the hands of these very persons, whom we call madmen, both the right of voting and of pronouncing judgment. Similarly, we say that a man who has received a benefit with good-will has returned the favour, yet we leave him in debt nevertheless--bound to repay it even though he has repaid it. This is not to disown benefits, but is an encouragement to us neither to fear to receive benefits, nor to faint under the too great burden of them. "Good things have been given to me; I have been preserved from starving; I have been saved from the misery of abject poverty; my life, and what is dearer than life, my liberty, has been preserved. How shall I be able to repay these favours? When will the day come upon which I can prove my gratitude to him?" When a man speaks thus, the day has already come. Receive a benefit, embrace it, rejoice, not that you have received it, but that you have to owe it and return it; then you will never be in peril of the great sin of being rendered ungrateful by mischance. I will not enumerate any difficulties to you, lest you should despair, and faint at the prospect of a long and laborious servitude. I do not refer you to the future; do it with what means you have at hand. You never will be grateful unless you are so straightway. What, then, will you do? You need not take up arms, yet perhaps you may have to do so; you need not cross the seas, yet it may be that you will pay your debt, even when the wind threatens to blow a gale. Do you wish to return the benefit? Then receive it graciously; you have then returned the favour--not, indeed, so that you can think yourself to have repaid it, but so that you can owe it with a quieter conscience.

Prête-moi donc attention, tu vas voir que je n’avance rien qui répugne-à ton opinion. Le bienfait qui s’accomplit par l’acte est rendu si je le reçois avec affection ; celui qui consiste dans la chose même n’est pas rendu encore, mais je voudrais le rendre. Mon cœur a répondu au tien, mais je dois la chose. Ainsi, bien que nous disions qu’un bienfait est payé s’il est reçu avec joie, nous prescrivons néanmoins de rendre quelque équivalent de ce qu’on a reçu. Nous avons tels points de doctrine qui s’écartent des idées communes, puis qui y rentrent par une autre voie. Nous nions que le sage reçoive l’injure ; et cependant, s’il est frappé d’un coup de poing, l’agresseur sera condamné pour injure. Nous soutenons qu’un fou ne possède rien ; mais quiconque dérobe quelque objet à un fou, nous le punirons comme voleur. Tous les hommes non sages, disons-nous , sont insensés, et pourtant nous n’ordonnons pas à tous l’ellébore ; tout en les jugeant insensés nous leur conférons le droit de suffrage et des magistratures. De même nous prétendons que recevoir un bienfait dignement, c’est y répondre ; et nous n’en laissons pas moins l’obligé sous ie poids de sa dette : il y doit satisfaire, après qu’il y a déjà satisfait. C’est là exhorter à la reconnaissance, loin de nier le bienfait. Ayons foi en nous-mêmes, et n’allons point faiblir de cœur, comme accablés d’une charge intolérable. « Il m’a comblé de biens ; il a défendu mon honneur ; il m’a fait quitter le triste appareil de suppliant ; ma vie, et ce qui vaut mieux que la vie, ma liberté est sauve : comment reconnaîtrai-je tant de services ? Quand viendra le jour où je lui prouverai tout mon dévouement ? » Ce jour, c’est celui même où il te prouve le sien. Accepte, embrasse avec amour le bienfait ; réjouis-toi, non de recevoir, mais de rendre, et de devoir encore. Tu n’auras pas de tels risques à courir que le sort puisse faire de toi un ingrat. Je ne te proposerai rien de bien difficile : tu pourrais céder au découragement ; la perspective de tes charges et d’une longue redevance pourraient glacer ton zèle : je ne t’ajourne point, tu peux payer comptant. Tu ne seras jamais reconnaissant si tu ne l’es sur l’heure. Que feras-tu donc ? Il ne s’agit pas de prendre les armes ; et plus tard peut-être le faudra-t-il ; de courir les mers, mais il se peut que tu t’embarques sous la menace des vents. Tu veux rendre le bienfait ? montre-toi touché de le recevoir, tu auras fait acte de gratitude : non qu’à ce prix tu puisses te juger quitte, mais tu devras avec plus de sécurité. == ==