econd founder of the Roman Empire, he
bestowed upon one who was already of noble birth the higher title of
"the father of Scipio;" can we doubt that the commonplace benefit of his
birth was outdone by his exemplary conduct, and by the valour which was
at once the glory and the protection of his country? Next, if this
be not enough, suppose that a son were to rescue his father from the
torture, or to undergo it in his stead. You can suppose the benefits
returned by the son as great as you please, whereas the gift he received
from his father was of one sort only, was easily performed, and was
a pleasure to the giver; that he must necessarily have given the same
thing to many others, even to some to whom he knows not that he has
given it, that he had a partner in doing so, and that he had in view the
law, patriotism, the rewards bestowed upon fathers of families by the
state, the maintenance of his house and family: everything rather than
him to whom he was giving life. What? supposing that any one were to
learn philosophy and teach it to his father, could it be any longer
disputed that the son had given him something greater than he had
received from him, having returned to his father a happy life, whereas
he had received from him merely life?

XXXIV. "But," says our opponent, "whatever you do, whatever you are able
to give to your father, is part of his benefit bestowed upon you." So
it is the benefit of my teacher that I have become proficient in liberal
studies; yet we pass on from those who taught them to us, at any rate
from those who taught us the alphabet; and although no one can learn
anything without them, yet it does not follow that whatsoever success
one subsequently obtains, one is still inferior to those teachers. There
is a great difference between the beginning of a thing and its final
development; the beginning is not equal to the thing at its greatest,
merely upon the ground that, without the beginning, it could never have
become so great.

XXXV. It is now time for me to bring forth something, so to speak, from
my own mint. So long as there is something better than the benefit which
a man bestows, he may be outdone. A father gives life to his son;
there is something better than life; therefore a father may be outdone,
because there is something better than the benefit which he has
bestowed. Still further, he who has given any one his life, if he be
more than once saved from peril of death by him, has rec