when he sees mine, who has not only a wish but a longing to help,
who thinks that he receives a benefit when he bestows one, who
gives as though he would receive no return, receives a repayment as
though he had originally given nothing, and who watches for and
seizes an opportunity of being useful. On the other hand, as I said
before, those gifts which are hardly wrung from the giver, or which
drop unheeded from his hands, claim no gratitude from us, however
great they may appear and may be. We prize much more what comes
from a willing hand, than what comes from a full one. This man has
given me but little, yet more he could not afford, while what that
one has given is much indeed, but he hesitated, he put it off, he
grumbled when he gave it, he gave it haughtily, or he proclaimed it
aloud, and did it to please others, not to please the person to
whom he gave it; he offered it to his own pride, not to me.

VIII. As the pupils of Socrates, each in proportion to his means,
gave him large presents, Aeschines, a poor pupil, said, "I can find
nothing to give you which is worthy of you; I feel my poverty in
this respect alone. Therefore I present you with the only thing I
possess, myself. I pray that you may take this my present, such as
it is, in good part, and may remember that the others, although
they gave you much, yet left for themselves more than they gave."
Socrates answered, "Surely you have bestowed a great present upon
me, unless perchance you set a small value upon yourself. I will
accordingly take pains to restore you to yourself a better man than
when I received you." By this present Aeschines outdid Alcibiades,
whose mind was as great as his Wealth, and all the splendour of the
most wealthy youths of Athens.

IX. You see how the mind even in the straitest circumstances finds