Besides, for the repayment of a benefit no date is set, as there is for a loan of money; and so it is possible that one who has not yet repaid may still repay. Pray tell me, at the expiration of what time is a man to be arrested for ingratitude? Of the greatest benefits there is no visible evidence; they often lie hidden in a silent consciousness that only two share. Or shall we introduce the rule of not giving a benefit without a witness?
And then what punishment shall we fix upon for the ungrateful? Shall there be the same one for all though their benefits are unequal? Or shall it be variable, a larger or smaller one according to the benefit each one has received? Very well, then, the standard of evaluation shall be money. But what of some benefits that have the value of life or are even greater than life? What punishment will be pronounced upon ingratitude for these? One smaller than the benefit? That would be unjust! One that is its equal — death? But what could be more inhuman than that benefits should end in bloodshed?