Whether a Man Ought to Love More His Benefactor Than One He Has
Benefited?
Objection 1: It would seem that a man ought to love his benefactor
more than one he has benefited. For Augustine says (De Catech. Rud.
iv): "Nothing will incite another more to love you than that you love
him first: for he must have a hard heart indeed, who not only refuses
to love, but declines to return love already given." Now a man's
benefactor forestalls him in the kindly deeds of charity. Therefore
we ought to love our benefactors above all.
Obj. 2: Further, the more grievously we sin by ceasing to love a man
or by working against him, the more ought we to love him. Now it is a
more grievous sin to cease loving a benefactor or to work against
him, than to cease loving one to whom one has hitherto done kindly
actions. Therefore we ought to love our benefactors more than those
to whom we are kind.
Obj. 3: Further, of all things lovable, God is to be loved most, and
then one's father, as Jerome says [*Comment. in Ezechiel xliv, 25].
Now these are our greatest benefactors. Therefore a benefactor should
be loved above all others.
_On the contrary,_ The Philosopher says (Ethic. ix, 7), that
"benefactors seem to love recipients of their benefactions, rather
than vice versa."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (AA. 9, 11), a thing is loved more
in two ways: first because it has the character of a more excellent
good, secondly by reason of a closer connection. In the first way we
ought to love our benefactor most, because, since he is a principle
of good to the man he has benefited, he has the character of a more
excellent good, as stated above with regard to one's father (A. 9).
In the second way, however, we love those more who have received
benefactions from us, as the Philosopher proves (Ethic. ix, 7) by
four arguments. First because the recipient of benefactions is the
handiwork of the benefactor, so that we are wont to say of a man: "He
was made by so and so." Now it is natural to a man to love his own
work (thus it is to be observed that poets love their own poems): and
the reason is that we love _to be_ and _to live,_ and these are made
manifest in our _action._ Secondly, because we all naturally love
that in which we see our own good. Now it is true that the benefactor
has some good of his in the recipient of his benefaction, and the
recipient some good in the benefactor; but the benefactor sees his
virtuous good in the recipient, while the recipient sees his useful
good in the benefactor. Now it gives more pleasure to see one's
virtuous good than one's useful good, both because it is more
enduring,--for usefulness quickly flits by, and the pleasure of
calling a thing to mind is not like the pleasure of having it
present--and because it is more pleasant to recall virtuous goods
than the profit we have derived from others. Thirdly, because is it
the lover's part to act, since he wills and works the good of the
beloved, while the beloved takes a passive part in receiving good, so
that to love surpasses being loved, for which reason the greater love
is on the part of the benefactor. Fourthly because it is more
difficult to give than to receive favors: and we are most fond of
things which have cost us most trouble, while we almost despise what
comes easy to us.
Reply Obj. 1: It is some thing in the benefactor that incites the
recipient to love him: whereas the benefactor loves the recipient,
not through being incited by him, but through being moved thereto of
his own accord: and what we do of our own accord surpasses what we do
through another.
Reply Obj. 2: The love of the beneficiary for the benefactor is more
of a duty, wherefore the contrary is the greater sin. On the other
hand, the love of the benefactor for the beneficiary is more
spontaneous, wherefore it is quicker to act.
Reply Obj. 3: God also loves us more than we love Him, and parents
love their children more than these love them. Yet it does not follow
that we love all who have received good from us, more than any of our
benefactors. For we prefer such benefactors as God and our parents,
from whom we have received the greatest favors, to those on whom we
have bestowed lesser benefits.
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