CONTENTS


BOOK I. The prevalence of ingratitude--How a benefit ought to be
bestowed--The three Graces--Benefits are the chief bond of human
society--What we owe in return for a benefit received--A benefit
consists not of a thing but of the wish to do good--Socrates and
Aeschines--What kinds of benefits should be bestowed, and in what
manner--Alexander and the franchise of Corinth.

BOOK II. Many men give through weakness of character--We ought to
give before our friends ask--Many benefits are spoiled by the
manner of the giver--Marius Nepos and Tiberius--Some benefits
should be given secretly--We must not give what would harm the
receiver--Alexander's gift of a city--Interchange of benefits like
a game of ball--From whom ought one to receive a benefit?--
Examples--How to receive a benefit--Ingratitude caused by self-
love, by greed, or by jealousy--Gratitude and repayment not the
same thing--Phidias and the statue

BOOK III. Ingratitude--Is it worse to be ungrateful for kindness or
not even to remember it?--Should ingratitude be punished by law?--
Can a slave bestow a benefit?--Can a son bestow a benefit upon his
father?--Examples