the case both of him who
does us good against his will, and that of him who does us good without
knowing it. That a man who does us good by acting under compulsion does
not thereby lay us under any obligation, is so clear, that no words
are needed to prove it. Both this question, and any other of the like
character which may be raised, can easily be settled if in each case we
bear in mind that, for anything to be a benefit, it must reach us in the
first place through some thought, and secondly through the thought of a
friend and well-wisher. Therefore we do not feel any gratitude towards
rivers, albeit they may bear large ships, afford an ample and unvarying
stream for the conveyance of merchandise, or flow beauteously and full
of fish through fertile fields. No one conceives himself to be indebted
for a benefit to the Nile, any more than he would owe it a grudge if its
waters flooded his fields to excess, and retired more slowly than usual;
the wind does not bestow benefits, gentle and favorable though it
may be, nor does wholesome and useful food; for he who would bestow a
benefit upon me, must not only do me good, but must wish to do so. No
obligation can therefore be incurred towards dumb animals; yet how many
men have been saved from peril by the swiftness of a horse!--nor
yet towards trees--yet how many sufferers from summer heat have been
sheltered by the thick foliage of a tree! What difference can it make,
whether I have profited by the act of one who did not know that he was
doing me good, or one who could not know it, when in each case the will
to do me good was wanting? You might as well bid me be grateful to a
ship, a carriage, or a lance for saving me from danger, as bid me be
grateful to a man who may have done me good by chance, but with no more
intention of doing me good than those things could have.

VIII. Some men may receive benefits without knowing it, but no man can
bestow them without knowing it. Many sick persons have been cured by
chance circumstances, which do not therefore become specific remedies;
as, for instance, one man was restored to health by falling into a river
during very cold weather, as another was set free from a quartan fever
by means of a flogging, because the sudden terror turned his attention
into a new channel, so that the dangerous hours passed unnoticed. Yet
none of these are remedies, even though they may have been
successful; and in like manner some men do us good, though