Meditations V.6
One man, when he has done another a kindness, is ready also to reckon on a return.13 A second is not ready to do this, but yet in his heart of hearts ranks the other as a debtor, and he is conscious of what he has done.14 But a third is in a manner not conscious of it, but is like the vine that has borne a cluster of grapes, and when it has once borne its due fruit looks for no reward beyond,15 as it is with a steed when it has run its course, a hound when it has singled out the trail, a bee when she hath made her comb. And so a man when he hath done one thing well, does not cry it abroad, but betakes himself to a second,16 as a vine to bear afresh her clusters in due season. *
A man then must be of those who act thus as it were unconsciously? Aye. But surely he must be conscious of what he is doing, for it is, we are told, the peculiar attribute of the man of true social instincts to be aware that he puts such instincts into practice,17 and by heaven to wish that his fellow should be aware of it too*. True; but thou misconceivest the present argument, and wilt consequently be of the number of those whom I mentioned before; for in fact they are led astray by reasoning which has a plausible look. But if thou thinkest it worth while to understand what has been said, fear not that thou wilt be led thereby to neglect any social act.
- 13.St. Luke vi. 34; xiv. 12.
Luke 6:34 has “if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye?” and Luke 14:12 warns against inviting friends to dinner “lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee” (King James).
- 14.Seneca’s On Benefits ii. 6. But see the speech of Marcus to his soldiers (as reported by Dio’s Roman History, 71. 26, § 2) on the revolt of Cassius.
Seneca’s On Benefits is his seven-book treatise on the giving and receiving of favours. Avidius Cassius, governor of Syria, proclaimed himself emperor in 175 on a false report of Marcus’s death and was killed by his own soldiers; in the speech the historian Dio gives Marcus on hearing of the revolt, Marcus hopes to be able to pardon him.
- 15.vii. 73; ix. 42, § 4. Compare Fronto’s On the Loss of a Grandson 2, near the end.
- 16.See xi. 4; xii. 29.
- 17.For example, a man who acts on the precept, “Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth,” must act so designedly.
The precept Haines quotes is Matthew 6:3.