On Benefits
Also known as De Beneficiis
Seneca's seven books on giving and receiving favours, and on gratitude in Stoic ethics.
At a glance
Key ideas
We do not know how to give, What holds society together, Give with care …
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Twelfth-century Christian thinkers, Marcel Mauss, The Gift
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- On Benefits is one of Seneca's moral essays, dedicated to Aebutius Liberalis.
- It concerns how gifts and favours are given and received in society, and the nature and role of gratitude in Stoic ethics.
- For Seneca the exchange of benefits was what most bound people together morally.
- It is written about, and for, the relationships of Roman aristocrats.
Why it matters
- It influenced Marcel Mauss's essay The Gift, and the gift has since become a central concept in anthropology.
Key facts
- Author
- Seneca1
- Written
- Very likely between AD 56 and 62, under Nero; finished by 641
- Length
- Seven books1
- Oldest copy
- Late 8th to early 9th century, the codex Nazarianus, now in the Vatican Library1
- English translations
- Books 1–3 by Nicolas Haward (1569); in full by Arthur Golding (1578) and Thomas Lodge (1614); John W. Basore (1935); Miriam Griffin and Brad Inwood (University of Chicago Press, 2011)1
Key ideas
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We do not know how to give1
Few errors are more disgraceful than not knowing how either to give or to receive benefits.
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What holds society together1
Benefits are what "very much holds human society together".
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Give with care1
A benefit badly placed is lost at the moment it is given, not when it goes unreturned.
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Gratitude1
Examines the complex nature and role of gratitude within Stoic ethics.
Influence
The line under a date fills as it gets older: empty when new, full at 2 years.
Connections
Written by
Links
Sources
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The line under a date fills as time passes: empty when new, then one equal share each for a day, a week, a month and a year. For episodes and other items it is full at 2 years; for "last checked", at a year. A striped line means the date is known only to the month or year.