And what shall we say of some gifts that are called benefits because they are excessively coveted, while others, though they lack this common ear-mark, are really greater benefits even if the do not appear so? It is called a “benefit” if you have given someone the citizenship of a powerful people, if you have escorted him to the fourteen rows5 of the knights, if you have defended him when he was on trial for his life. But what of having given him useful advice? What of having kept him from plunging into crime? What of having struck the sword from his hands when he planned to die? What of having brought him effective consolation in sorrow, and of having restored in him a resolve to live when he was wishing to follow those for whom he grieved? What of having sat at his side when he was sick, and, when his health and recovery were a matter of moments, of having seized the right times to administer food, of having revived his failing pulse with wine, and brought in a physician when he was dying? Who will estimate the value of such services? Who will decree that benefits of one sort counterbalance benefits of another? “I gave you a house,” you say. Yes, but I warned you that yours was tumbling down upon your head! “I gave you a fortune,” you say. Yes, but I gave you a plank when you were shipwrecked! “I fought for you and received wounds for your sake,” you say. Yes, but I by my silence gave you your life! Since benefits may be given in one form and repaid in another, it is difficult to establish their equality.