se are due not to a great
mind, but to a great fortune; they do not know how far more great and
more difficult it sometimes is to receive than to lavish gifts. I must
disparage neither act; it is as proper to a noble heart to owe as to
receive, for both are of equal value when done virtuously; indeed, to
owe is the more difficult, because it requires more pains to keep a
thing safe than to give it away. We ought not therefore to be in a hurry
to repay, nor need we seek to do so out of due season, for to hasten to
make repayment at the wrong time is as bad as to be slow to do so at the
right time. My benefactor has entrusted his bounty to me: I ought not
to have any fears either on his behalf or on my own. He has a sufficient
security; he cannot lose it except he loses me--nay, not even if he
loses me. I have returned thanks to him for it--that is, I have requited
him. He who thinks too much about repaying a benefit must suppose that
his friend thinks too much about receiving repayment. Make no difficulty
about either course. If he wishes to receive his benefit back again,
let us return it cheerfully; if he prefers to leave it in our hands,
why should we dig up his treasure? why should we decline to be its
guardians? he deserves to be allowed to do whichever he pleases. As
for fame and reputation, let us regard them as matters which ought to
accompany, but which ought not to direct our actions.

BOOK VII.

I.

Be of good cheer, my Liberalis:

"Our port is close, and I will not delay,
Nor by digressions wander from the way."

This book collects together all that has been omitted, and in it, having
exhausted my subject, I shall consider not what I am to say, but what
there is which I have not yet said. If there be anything superfluous
in it, I pray you take it in good part, since it is for you that it is
superfluous. Had I wished to set off my work to the best advantage, I
ought to have added to it by degrees, and to have kept for the last that
part which would be eagerly perused even by a sated reader. However,
instead of this, I have collected together all that was essential in the
beginning; I am now collecting together whatever then escaped me; nor,
by Hercules, if you ask me, do I think that, after the rules which
govern our conduct have been stated, it is very much to the purpose to
discuss the other questions which have been raised more for the exercise
of our intellects than for the health of ou