fect the mind very differently from, those which adorn
and improve it. A man may be nice, and hard to please, in things which
he can easily do without, of which he can say, "Take them back; I do not
want them, I am satisfied with what I have." Sometimes, we wish not
only to, return what we have received, but even to throw it away. Of
necessary things, the first class consists of things without which we
cannot live; the second, of things without which we ought not to live;
and the third, of things without which we should not care to live. The
first class are, to be saved from the hands of the enemy, from the anger
of tyrants, from proscription, and the various other perils which
beset human life. By averting any one of these, we shall earn gratitude
proportionate to the greatness of the danger, for when men think of
the greatness of the misery from which they have been saved, the terror
which they have gone through enhances the value of our services. Yet we
ought not to delay rescuing any one longer than we are obliged, solely
in order to make his fears add weight to our services. Next come those
things without which we can indeed live, but in such a manner that it
would be better to die, such as liberty, chastity, or a good conscience.
After these are what we have come to hold dear by connexion and
relationship and long use and custom, such as our wives and children,
our household gods, and so on, to which the mind so firmly attaches
itself that separation from them seems worse than death.

After these come useful things, which form a very wide and varied
class; in which will be money, not in excess, but enough for living in
a moderate style; public office, and, for the ambitious, due advancement
to higher posts; for nothing can be more useful to a man than to be
placed in a position in which he can benefit himself. All benefits
beyond these are superfluous, and are likely to spoil those who receive
them. In giving these we must be careful to make them acceptable by
giving them at the appropriate time, or by giving things which are not
common, but such as few people possess, or at any rate few possess in
our times; or again, by giving things in such a manner, that though not
naturally valuable, they become so by the time and place at which they
are given. We must reflect what present will produce the most pleasure,
what will most frequently come under the notice of the possessor of it,
so that whenever he is with it he m