has
bestowed upon me, because if he had not begotten me, it never could
have existed at all." By this mode of reasoning, if a man has healed
my father when ill, and at the point of death, I shall not be able to
bestow anything upon him equivalent to what I have received from him;
for had my father not been healed, he could not have begotten me. Yet
think whether it be not nearer the truth to regard all that I can do,
and all that I have done, as mine, due to my own powers and my own will?
Consider what the fact of my birth is in itself; you will see that it
is a small matter, the outcome of which is dubious, and that it may lead
equally to good or to evil; no doubt it is the first step to everything,
but because it is the first, it is not on that account more important
than all the others. Suppose that I have saved my father's life, raised
him to the highest honours, and made him the chief man in his city,
that I have not merely made him illustrious by my own deeds, but have
furnished him himself with an opportunity of performing great exploits,
which is at once important, easy, and safe, as well as glorious; that I
have loaded him with appointments, wealth, and all that attracts men's
minds; still, even when I surpass all others, I am inferior to him.
Now if you say, "You owe to your father the power of doing all this," I
shall answer, "Quite true, if to do all this it is only necessary to be
born; but if life is merely an unimportant factor in the art of living
well, and if you have bestowed upon me only that which I have in common
with wild beasts and the smallest, and some of the foulest of creatures,
do not claim for yourself what did not come into being in consequence of
the benefits which you bestowed, even though it could not have come into
being without them."

XXXI. Suppose, father, that I have saved your life, in return for the
life which I received from you: in this case also I have outdone your
benefit, because I have given life to one who understands what I have
done, and because I understood what I was doing, since I gave you your
life not for the sake of, or by the means of my own pleasure; for just
as it is less terrible to die before one has time to fear death, so it
is a much greater boon to preserve one's life than to receive it. I have
given life to one who will at once enjoy it, you gave it to one who knew
not if he should ever live; I have given life to one who was in fear of
death, your gift of