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[5]
It is evident also by what means it is possible to
make out that there is no favor at all, or that those who render it are not
actuated by benevolence1;
for it can either be said that they do, or have done so, for their own sake, in which case there is no favor; or that it was mere chance; or that they acted under compulsion; or that they were making a return, not a gift, whether they knew it or not; for in both cases it is an equivalent return, so that in this case also there is no favor.
for it can either be said that they do, or have done so, for their own sake, in which case there is no favor; or that it was mere chance; or that they acted under compulsion; or that they were making a return, not a gift, whether they knew it or not; for in both cases it is an equivalent return, so that in this case also there is no favor.
1 ἀχαρίστους: the word generally means “ungrateful,” and so Jebb takes it here: “and to make men ungrateful.”
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