Once when Plato had been put across a river in a boat, and found that the ferryman asked for no pay, thinking that he had been shown a special compliment, said that the ferryman had placed Plato under obligation to him. But a little later, when he saw him just as zealously convey one after another across without any charge, he denied that the ferryman had placed Plato under any obligation to him. For, if you wish me to feel indebted for something that you bestow, you must bestow it, not merely upon me, but because of me; you cannot dun any man for the dole that you fling to the crowd. What, then? Will no one owe you anything in return for it? No one as an individual; the debt that I owe in company with all I shall pay in company with all.