that you are unwilling to receive it, it still belongs to you before it
is returned. You cannot lose anything, because what you take away from
yourself, you nevertheless gain yourself. The matter revolves in a
circle within yourself; by receiving you give, by giving you receive.

IX. "It is our duty," argues our adversary, "to bestow benefits upon
ourselves, therefore we ought also to be grateful to ourselves." The
original axiom, upon which the inference depends, is untrue, for no one
bestows benefits upon himself, but obeys the dictates of his nature,
which disposes him to affection for himself, and which makes him take
the greatest pains to avoid hurtful things, and to follow after those
things which are profitable to him. Consequently, the man who gives to
himself is not generous, nor is he who pardons himself forgiving, nor is
he who is touched by his own misfortunes tender-hearted; it is
natural to do those things to oneself which when done to others become
generosity, clemency, and tenderness of heart. A benefit is a voluntary
act, but to do good to oneself is an instinctive one. The more benefits
a man bestows, the more beneficent he is, yet who ever was praised for
having been of service to himself? or for having rescued himself from
brigands? No one bestows a benefit upon himself any more than he bestows
hospitality upon himself; no one gives himself anything, any more than
he lends himself anything. If each man bestows benefits upon himself, is
always bestowing them, and bestows them without any cessation, then
it is impossible for him to make any calculation of the number of his
benefits; when then can he show his gratitude, seeing that by the very
act of doing so he would bestow a benefit? for what distinction can
you draw between giving himself a benefit or receiving a benefit for
himself, when the whole transaction takes place in the mind of the same
man? Suppose that I have freed myself from danger, then I have bestowed
a benefit upon myself; suppose I free myself a second time, by so doing
do I bestow or repay a benefit? In the next place, even if I grant the
primary axiom, that we can bestow benefits upon ourselves, I do not
admit that which follows; for even if we can do so, we ought not to do
so. Wherefore? Because we receive a return for them at once. It is right
for me to receive a benefit, then to lie under an obligation, then to
repay it; now here there is no time for remaining under an obligation