Seneca · c. 4 BCE – 65 CE
On Benefits 4.18 ¶2 — Seneca
Translation by Aubrey Stewart (1887)
Seneca, On Benefits 4.18 ¶2
God has bestowed upon him two gifts, reason and union, which raise him from weakness to the highest power; and so he, who if taken alone would be inferior to every other creature, possesses supreme dominion. Union has given him sovereignty over all animals; union has enabled a being born upon the Earth to assume power over a foreign element, and bids him be lord of the sea also; it is union which has checked the inroads of disease, provided supports for our old age, and given us relief from pain; it is union which makes us strong, and to which we look for protection against the caprices of fortune. Take away union, and you will rend asunder the association by which the human race preserves its existence; yet you will take it away if you succeed in proving that ingratitude is not to be avoided for itself, but because something is to be feared for it; for how many are there who can with safety be ungrateful? In fine, I call every man ungrateful who is merely made grateful by fear.
Cite this passage
Seneca, On Benefits 4.18 ¶2, tr. Aubrey Stewart (1887)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/on-benefits/4.18.2
Seneca, Dialogues, tr. Aubrey Stewart (1887–1889). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesReason and the ability to live and work together lift humans from weakness to mastery over animals, the sea, disease and the hardships of old age, and without cooperation humanity would fall apart. Someone who is grateful only out of fear of consequences is not truly grateful.
Older wording
- “union”
- — cooperation, living together in society
- “sovereignty”
- — supreme rule
Themes and situations
- Community and our duty to others
- Gratitude
- Virtue and character
- Nature and the cosmos
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