第551页 / 共734页

But the real cause, it would seem, rests upon nature, and the

case is not parallel to that of creditors; because in this there

is no affection to the persons, but merely a wish for their

preservation with a view to the return: whereas, in point of

fact, they who have done kindnesses feel friendship and love for

those to whom they have done them, even though they neither are,

nor can by possibility hereafter be, in a position to serve their

benefactors.

And this is the case also with artisans; every one, I mean, feels

more affection for his own work than that work possibly could for

him if it were animate. It is perhaps specially the case with

poets: for these entertain very great affection for their poems,

loving them as their own children. It is to this kind of thing I

should be inclined to compare the case of benefactors: for the

object of their kindness is their own work, and so they love this

more than this loves its creator.