Chap. 6.
IT hath bene demaūded of som, why this passing gret vice wor∣thie to be detested & abhorred of all men that professe ye name of honesti••, should be suffered still to scape without dew punishement limited for it, and why
The line of liberalitie dulie directinge the wel bestowing of benefites and reprehending the comonly vsed vice of ingratitude. Anno. 1569.
About this Item
- Title
- The line of liberalitie dulie directinge the wel bestowing of benefites and reprehending the comonly vsed vice of ingratitude. Anno. 1569.
- Author
- Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, ca. 4 B.C.-65 A.D.
- Publication
- Imprinted at London :: In Fletestrete neare to S. Dunstones Church by Thomas Marshe,
- [1569]
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- Subject terms
- Charity -- Early works to 1800.
- Link to this Item
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http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A02806.0001.001
- Cite this Item
-
"The line of liberalitie dulie directinge the wel bestowing of benefites and reprehending the comonly vsed vice of ingratitude. Anno. 1569." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A02806.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 12, 2024.
Pages
Page [unnumbered]
the same Lawe is not dewlye executed vpon thoffendours in that behalf in Cy∣ties, whiche hath bene sometyme practi∣sed in Scholes? Where it hath bene per∣mitted to the party benefyting to seke & vse his remedy against him that he hath benefited if he shewe himself vnthanke∣full. Whyche séemeth to some but iuste and resonable it so were. But our aun∣cetours men of great noblesse were wōt to requier of their mortall enemyes mo∣ney or suche like thinges as they hadde haply lent them in time of fréendshippe and amitie. As for the plesours or bene∣fits they had bestowed vpon them what soeuer they were, lyke as with a franck hart th••y bestowed them at the fyrst, so did they no l••sse lib••ral••y let them passe quyte, without demaunding euer again. And except the Macedoniens onelye,* 1.1 I know no kinde of people that euer made any Lawe by whiche a man might sewe him that he found vnthankfull. And yet is this the strongest reson and argumēt
Page 97
wée can alledge to proue whye the vn∣thankefull body with vs shoulde not be sewed. We haue say we, alwayes assen∣ted and so vsually practised it to punishe sharply eche haynous offence that hath seemed to vs worthie of punishment, as manslaughter, witchcraft, murder, rob∣brye, prophaning of sacred institutions and suche lyke. Against all these in some contrey one kinde of punishment, in som other an other kind is assigned. But eue∣riewhere there is some paine appointed for the trespassours. But as for this vice whiche is so commōly practised and day∣lie in vre, it is euerywhere reprehended, but no where punished. Neyther yet doo we clerely acquit and discharge it from desert of punishment but for that we can not agrée vppon it to determine punishe∣ment certein for it, therfore we adiudge it onely worthie to be hated, and despy∣ted, and refer it ouer wholly to the god∣des for reuengement.
Notes
-
* 1.1
The ma∣cedoni••ns prouyded by order of Lawe agaynst vntha••∣••ull men.