rather than giving it, if he gave it to please himself, or to
please any one except me, the receiver; if he persistently makes
himself offensive by boasting of what he has done, if he brags of
his gift everywhere, and makes it a misery to me, then indeed the
benefit remains in my hands, but I owe him nothing for it, just as
sums of money to which a creditor has no legal right are owed to
him, but cannot be claimed by him;

V. Though you have bestowed a benefit upon me, yet you have since
done me a wrong; the benefit demanded gratitude, the wrong required
vengeance: the result is that I do not owe you gratitude, nor do
you owe me compensation--each is cancelled by the other. When we
say, "I returned him his benefit," we do not mean that we restored
to him the very thing which we had received, but something else in
its place. To return is to give back one thing instead of another,
because, of course, in all repayment it is not the thing itself,
but its equivalent which is returned. We are said to have returned
money even though we count out gold pieces instead of silver ones,
or even if no money passes between us, but the transaction be
effected verbally by the assignment of a debt.

I think I see you say, "You are wasting your time; of what use is
it to me to know whether what I do not owe to another still remains
in my hands or not? These are like the ingenious subtleties of the
lawyers, who declare that one cannot acquire an inheritance by
prescription, but can only acquire those things of which the
inheritance consists, as though there were any difference between
the heritage and the things of which it consists. Rather decide
this point for me, which may be of use. If the same man confers a
benefit upon me, and afterwards does me a wrong, is it my duty to