On Benefits: De Beneficiis

De Beneficiis or “On Benefits” is a first-century work by Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – 65 AD). It forms part of a series of moral essays composed by Seneca, whose other philosophical explorations included providence, steadfastness, the happy life, anger, leisure, tranquility, the brevity of life, gift-giving, forgiveness, and treatises on natural phenomena. While the word De is invariably translated as On (the subject of), the meaning of the term Beneficiis is variously translated as; gifts and services (M.Griffin), Benefits (M.Griffin in Seneca on Society A Guide to De Beneficiis), the Award and Reception of Favors, Favours (TK Christov) and kind deeds or charity (Jean-Joseph Goux). Beneficiis is translated by the Perseus Tufts online dictionary, being from the word beneficium, as meaning a favor, benefit, service, or kindness. It is considered that the work was very likely written between the years 56 and 62 AD.JM Cooper and JF Procopé provide one line of reasoning for the dating to this particular period for the writing. Mario Lentano provides a collation of a number of sources who posit different periods, of about these years, in Brill's Companion to Seneca: Philosopher and Dramatist. In Epistulae and Lucilium 81:3, Seneca writes that the work was finished by 64 (c.f. Conte – p. 412).