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Not to return one good office for another is inhuman; but to return evil for good is diabolical. There are too many even of this sort, who, the more they owe, the more they hate. There is nothing more dangerous than to oblige those people; for when they are conscious of not paying the debt, they wish the creditor out of the way. It is a mortal hatred, that which arises from the shame of an abused benefit. When we are on the asking side, what a deal of cringing there is, and profession! “Well, I shall never forget this favor, it will be an eternal obligation to me.” But within a while the note is changed, and we hear no more words of it, until, by little and little, it is all quite forgotten. So long as we stand in need of a benefit, there is nothing dearer to us; nor anything cheaper, when we have received it. And yet a man may as well refuse to deliver up a sum of money that is left him in trust without a suit, as not to return a good office without asking; and when we have no value any farther for the benefit, we do commonly care as little for the author. People follow their interest: one man is grateful for his convenience, and another man is ungrateful for the same reason.

Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound. Tr. E. B. Browning. (LLA 24) .40 *Alembert, d’: Introduction to the Encyclopédie of 1751. Tr. T. D. Lockwood. (LLA 88) .80 *Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics. Tr. M. Ostwald. (LLA 75) .80 ——: On the Art of Poetry. Tr. S. H. Butcher. (LLA 6) .50 *——: On Poetry and Style. Tr. G. M. A. Grube. (LLA 68) .75 Augustine: On Christian Doctrine. Tr. D. W. Robertson, Jr. (LLA 80) .95 *Bacon: The New Organon. (LLA 97) 1.00 *Beccaria: Of Crimes and Punishments. Tr. H. Paolucci & V. Caporale. (LLA 107) .60 Bergson: An Introduction to Metaphysics. Tr. T. E. Hulme. (LLA 10) .40 *Berkeley: An Essay Toward a New Theory of Vision & The Theory of Vision Vindicated. (LLA 83) .80 ——: A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. (LLA 53) .75 ——: Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous. (LLA 39) .75 Boccaccio on Poetry. Tr. C. G. Osgood. (LLA 82) cl. $3.50 1.25 *Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy. Tr. R. H. Green. (LLA 86) .95 Bonaventura: The Mind’s Road to God. Tr. G. Boas. (LLA 32) .50 Bowman: The Absurdity of Christianity and Other Essays. (LLA 56) .75 Bradley: Ethical Studies (Selected Essays). (LLA 28) cl. $2.00 .85 *Burke: On the Sublime and Beautiful. (LLA 99) .90 ——: Reflections on the Revolution in France. (LLA 46) cl. $3.50 1.25 Butler: Five Sermons. (LLA 21) .60 Calvin: On the Christian Faith. (LLA 93) .95 ——: On God and Political Duty. (LLA 23) .60 *The Cid. Tr. J. G. Markley. (LLA 77) .75 Cornford: Plato and Parmenides. (LLA 102) 1.60 ——: Plato’s Cosmology. (LLA 101) 1.75 ——: Plato’s Theory of Knowledge. (LLA 100) 1.75 *Dante: De vulgari eloquentia. Tr. W. T. H. Jackson. (LLA 85) .60 ——: On World-Government (De Monarchia). Tr. H. W. Schneider. (LLA 15) .60 Descartes: Discourse on Method. Tr. L. J. Lafleur. (LLA 19) .50 *——: Discourse on Method and Meditations. Tr. L. J. Lafleur. (LLA 89) .90 ——: Meditations. Tr. L. J. Lafleur.

In the morning when thou findest thyself unwilling to rise, consider with thyself presently, it is to go about a man's work that I am stirred up. Am I then yet unwilling to go about that, for which I myself was born and brought forth into this world? Or was I made for this, to lay me down, and make much of myself in a warm bed? 'O but this is pleasing.' And was it then for this that thou wert born, that thou mightest enjoy pleasure? Was it not in very truth for this, that thou mightest always be busy and in action? Seest thou not how all things in the world besides, how every tree md plant, how sparrows and ants, spiders and bees: how all in their kind are intent as it were orderly to perform whatsoever (towards the preservation of this orderly universe) naturally doth become and belong unto thin? And wilt not thou do that, which belongs unto a man to do? Wilt not thou run to do that, which thy nature doth require? 'But thou must have some rest.' Yes, thou must. Nature hath of that also, as well as of eating and drinking, allowed thee a certain stint. But thou guest beyond thy stint, and beyond that which would suffice, and in matter of action, there thou comest short of that which thou mayest. It must needs be therefore, that thou dost not love thyself, for if thou didst, thou wouldst also love thy nature, and that which thy nature doth propose unto herself as her end. Others, as many as take pleasure in their trade and profession, can even pine themselves at their works, and neglect their bodies and their food for it; and doest thou less honour thy nature, than an ordinary mechanic his trade; or a good dancer his art? than a covetous man his silver, and vainglorious man applause? These to whatsoever they take an affection, can be content to want their meat and sleep, to further that every one which he affects: and shall actions tending to the common good of human society, seem more vile unto thee, or worthy of less respect and intention?

Because you fancy that the shepherd or neatherd fattens or tends the sheep or oxen with a view to their own good and not to the good of himself or his master; and you further imagine that the rulers of states, if they are true rulers, never think of their subjects as sheep, and that they are not studying their own advantage day and night. Oh, no; and so entirely astray are you in your ideas about the just and unjust as not even to know that justice and the just are in reality another’s good; that is to say, the interest of the ruler and stronger, and the loss of the subject and servant; and injustice the opposite; for the unjust is lord over the truly simple and just: he is the stronger, and his subjects do what is for his interest, and minister to his happiness, which is very far from being their own. Consider further, most foolish Socrates, that the just is always a loser in comparison with the unjust. First of all, in private contracts: wherever the unjust is the partner of the just you will find that, when the partnership is dissolved, the unjust man has always more and the just less. Secondly, in their dealings with the State: when there is an income-tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income; and when there is anything to be received the one gains nothing and the other much. Observe also what happens when they take an office; there is the just man neglecting his affairs and perhaps suffering other losses, and getting nothing out of the public, because he is just; moreover he is hated by his friends and acquaintance for refusing to serve them in unlawful ways. But all this is reversed in the case of the unjust man.