other men who have not yielded in spirit when
overwhelmed by the strength and weight of angry fortune.

So is it with benefits. A man may have received more than he gave, more
valuable ones, more frequently bestowed; yet is he not vanquished. It
may be that, if you compare the benefits with one another, those which
he has received will outweigh those which he has bestowed; but if you
compare the giver and the receiver, whose intentions also ought to be
considered apart, neither will prove the victor. It often happens that
even when one combatant is pierced with many wounds, while the other is
only slightly injured, yet they are said to have fought a drawn battle,
although the former may appear to be the worse man.

IV. No one, therefore, can be conquered in a contest of benefits, if he
knows how to owe a debt, if he wishes to make a return for what he
has received, and raises himself to the same level with his friend in
spirit, though he cannot do so in material gifts. As long as he remains
in this temper of mind, as long as he has the wish to declare by proofs
that he has a grateful mind, what difference does it make upon which
side we can count the greater number of presents? You are able to give
much; I can do nothing but receive. Fortune abides with you, goodwill
alone with me; yet I am as much on an equality with you as naked or
lightly armed men are with a large body armed to the teeth. No one,
therefore, is worsted by benefits, because each man's gratitude is to be
measured by his will. If it be disgraceful to be worsted in a contest
of benefits, you ought not to receive a benefit from very powerful men
whose kindness you cannot return, I mean such as princes and kings, whom
fortune has placed in such a station that they can give away much, and
can only receive very little and quite inadequate returns for what they
give. I have spoken of kings and princes, who alone can cause works to
be accomplished, and whose superlative power depends upon the obedience
and services of inferiors; but some there are, free from all earthly
lusts, who are scarcely affected by any human objects of desire, upon
whom fortune herself could bestow nothing. I must be worsted in a
contest of benefits with Socrates, or with Diogenes, who walked naked
through the treasures of Macedonia, treading the king's wealth under his
feet. In good sooth, he must then rightly have seemed, both to himself
and to all others whose eyes were keen enough