all cases should be our measure, he who gives too much acts as
wrongly as he who gives too little. Even granting that fortune has
raised you so high, that, where other men give cups, you give
cities (which it would show a greater mind in you not to take than
to take and squander), still there must be some of your friends who
are not strong enough to put a city in their pockets.

XVII. A certain cynic asked Antigonus for a talent. Antigonus
answered that this was too much for a cynic to ask for. After this
rebuff he asked for a penny. Antigonus answered that this was too
little for a king to give. "This kind of hair-splitting" (you say)
"is contemptible: he found the means of giving neither. In the
matter of the penny he thought of the king, in that of the talent
he thought of the cynic, whereas with respect to the cynic it would
have been right to receive the penny, with respect to the king it
would have been right to give the talent. Though there may be
things which are too great for a cynic to receive, yet nothing is
so small, that it does not become a gracious king to bestow it." If
you ask me, I applaud Antigonus; for it is not to be endured that a
man who despises money should ask for it. Your cynic has publicly
proclaimed his hatred of money, and assumed the character of one
who despises it: let him act up to his professions. It is most
inconsistent for him to earn money by glorifying his poverty. I
wish to use Chrysippus's simile of the game of ball, in which the
ball must certainly fall by the fault either of the thrower or of
the catcher; it only holds its course when it passes between the
hands of two persons who each throw it and catch it suitably. It is
necessary, however, for a good player to send the ball in one way
to a comrade at a long distance, and in another to one at a short
distance. So it is with a benefit: unless it be suitable both for