he does not take away, the letters which were there before, and in
like manner a wrong coming after a benefit does not allow it to be
seen.

VII. Your face, by which I have agreed to be guided, now becomes
wrinkled with frowns, as though I were straying too widely from the
subject. You seem to say to me:

"Why steer to seaward? Hither bend thy course, Hug close the
shore..."

I do hug it as close as possible. So now, if you think that we have
dwelt sufficiently upon this point, let us proceed to the
consideration of the next--that is, whether we are at all indebted
to any one who does us good without wishing to do so. I might have
expressed this more clearly, if it were not right that the question
should be somewhat obscurely stated, in order that by the
distinction immediately following it may be shown that we mean to
investigate the case both of him who does us good against his will,
and that of him who does us good without knowing it. That a man who
does us good by acting under compulsion does not thereby lay us
under any obligation, is so clear, that no words are needed to
prove it. Both this question, and any other of the like character
which may be raised, can easily be settled if in each case we bear
in mind that, for anything to be a benefit, it must reach us in the
first place through some thought, and secondly through the thought
of a friend and well-wisher. Therefore we do not feel any gratitude
towards rivers, albeit they may bear large ships, afford an ample
and unvarying stream for the conveyance of merchandise, or flow
beauteously and full of fish through fertile fields. No one