§81.17Summa rei haec est: facilis erit in conmutando.
The sum of the matter is this: he will be easy in exchanging.
Patietur plus inputari sibi.
He will allow more to be imputed to himself.
Invitus beneficium per conpensationem iniuriae solvet.
Unwillingly will he pay a benefit through the compensation of an injury.
In hanc partem inclinabit, huc verget, ut cupiat debere gratiam, cupiat referre.
He will incline to this side, he will turn hither, so as to desire to owe gratitude, to desire to return it.
Errat enim, si quis beneficium accipit libentius quam reddit.
For he errs, if anyone receives a benefit more willingly than he returns it.
Quanto hilarior est, qui solvit quam qui mutuatur, tanto debet laetior esse, qui se maximo aere alieno accepti benefici exonerat, quam qui cum maxime obligatur.
By how much more cheerful is he who pays than he who borrows, by so much more joyful ought he to be who unloads himself of the greatest debt of a received benefit than he who is at the very moment placed under obligation.
§81.18Nam in hoc quoque falluntur ingrati, quod creditori quidem praeter sortem extra ordinem numerant, beneficiorum autem usum esse gratuitum putant.
For in this also the ungrateful err, that they indeed pay to their creditor beyond the principal and out of the ordinary, but they think that the use of benefits is free.
Et illa crescunt mora tantoque plus solvendum est, quanto tardius.
And those also grow by delay, and by so much more must be paid, by how much later.
Ingratus est, qui beneficium reddit sine usura.
He is ungrateful who returns a benefit without interest.
Itaque huius quoque rei habebitur ratio, cum conterentur accepta et expensa.
Therefore, account of this matter also will be taken when receipts and expenses are balanced.
§81.19Omnia facienda sunt, ut quam gratissimi simus.
All things must be done so that we may be as grateful as possible.
Nostrum enim hoc bonum est, quemadmodum iustitia non est, ut vulgo creditur, ad alios pertinens; magna pars eius in se redit.
For this is our own good, just as justice is not, as is commonly believed, belonging to others; a great part of it returns to itself.
Nemo non, cum alteri prodest, sibi profuit, non eo nomine dico, quod volet adiuvare adiutus, protegere defensus, quod bonum exemplum circuitu ad facientem revertitur, sicut mala exempla reddunt in auctores nec ulla miseratio contingit iis, qui patiuntur iniurias, quas posse fieri faciendo docuerunt, sed quod virtutum omnium pretium in ipsis est.
No one, when he benefits another, does not benefit himself—I do not say this on the ground that the assisted person will want to assist, the defended to defend, or that a good example returns by a circuit to the one who made it (just as bad examples return upon their authors, nor does any pity fall upon those who suffer injuries which they taught could be done by doing them), but because the reward of all virtues is in themselves.
Non enim exercentur ad praemium; recte facti fecisse merces est.
For they are not practiced for a reward; the reward of a right deed is to have done it.
§81.20Gratus sum, non ut alius mihi libentius praestet priore inritatus exemplo, sed ut rem iucundissimam ac pulcherrimam faciam; gratus sum, non quia expedit, sed quia iuvat.
I am grateful, not so that another, stimulated by the former example, may more willingly perform a benefit for me, but so that I may do a most pleasant and beautiful thing; I am grateful, not because it is expedient, but because it pleases.
Hoc ut scias ita esse, si gratum esse non licebit, nisi ut videar ingratus, si reddere beneficium non aliter quam per speciem iniuriae potero, aequissimo animo ad honestum consilium per mediam infamiam tendam.
That you may know this to be so, if it will not be permitted to be grateful unless I seem ungrateful, if I cannot return a benefit otherwise than through the appearance of an injury, I will proceed with a most calm mind through the midst of infamy to an honorable purpose.
Nemo mihi videtur pluris aestimare virtutem, nemo illi magis esse devotus quam qui boni viri famam perdidit, ne conscientiam perderet.
No one seems to me to value virtue more, no one to be more devoted to it, than he who has lost the reputation of a good man lest he lose his conscience.
§81.21Itaque, ut dixi, maiori tuo quam alterius bono gratus es.
Therefore, as I said, you are grateful for your own greater good than for another's.
Illi enim vulgaris et cottidiana res contigit, recipere, quod dederat, tibi magna et ex beatissimo animi statu profecta, gratum fuisse.
For to him fell a common and everyday thing, to receive what he had given; to you, a great thing proceeding from the most blessed state of mind, to have been grateful.
Nam si malitia miseros facit, virtus beatos, gratum autem esse virtus est, rem usitatam reddidisti, inaestimabilem consecutus es, conscientiam grati, quae nisi in animum divinum fortunatumque non pervenit.
For if malice makes people miserable, and virtue makes them blessed, and to be grateful is a virtue, you have returned an ordinary thing and obtained an inestimable one, the conscience of a grateful person, which does not reach unless into a divine and fortunate mind.
Contrarium autem huic adfectum summa infelicitas urget; nemo si ingratus est, miser erit.
But the opposite affection is pressed by the greatest unhappiness; no one, if he is ungrateful, will be miserable in the future.
Non differo illum, statim miser est.
I do not defer him; he is miserable immediately.
§81.22Itaque ingrati esse vitemus, non aliena causa, sed nostra.
Therefore let us avoid being ungrateful, not for another's sake, but for our own.
Minimum ex nequitia levissimumque ad alios redundat.
The least and lightest part of wickedness overflows to others.
Quod pessimum ex illa est et, ut ita dicam, spississimum, domi remanet et premit habentem, quemadmodum Attalus noster dicere solebat: "malitia ipsa maximam partem veneni sui bibit. "Illud venenum, quod serpentes in alienam perniciem proferunt, sine sua continent, non est huic simile; hoc habentibus pessimum est.
What is worst and, so to speak, most thick in it, remains at home and oppresses the possessor, as our Attalus used to say: "malice itself drinks the greatest part of its own poison." That poison which serpents bring forth for another's destruction, and contain without their own, is not like this; this is worst for those who possess it.
§81.23Torquet ingratus se et macerat; odit, quae accepit, quia redditurus est, et extenuat, iniurias vero dilatat atque auget.
The ungrateful man tortures and torments himself; he hates what he has received because he is about to return it, and belittles it, but injuries he expands and increases.
Quid autem eo miserius, cui beneficia excidunt haerent iniuriae?
At contra sapientia exornat omne beneficium ac sibi ipsa commendat et se adsidua eius commemoratione delectat.
But what is more miserable than he from whom benefits fall away and injuries cling? But on the contrary, wisdom adorns every benefit and commends it to itself, and delights itself with the constant recollection of it.