The instances that you have set forth, Liberalis, come under fixed laws, which we are bound to follow. One law does not merge into another law; each proceeds along its own way. A particular action deals with a deposit, and just as clearly another deals with theft. But a benefit is subject to no law, it makes me the judge. I have the right to compare the amount of good or the amount of harm anyone may have done me, and then to decide whether he is more indebted to me, or I to him. In legal actions we ourselves have no power, we must follow the path by which we are led; in the case of a benefit I have all the power, I render judgment. And so I make no separation or distinction between benefits and injuries, but commit them both to the same judge. Otherwise, you force me to love and to hate, and to complain and to give thanks, at the same time; but this is contrary to nature. Instead, after making a comparison of benefit and injury, I shall discover whether there is still any balance in my favor. As, if anyone imprints other lines of writing upon my manuscript, he conceals, though he does not remove, the letters that were there before, so an injury that comes on top of a benefit does not allow the benefit to be seen.