On Benefits

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 (or "Dialogues") 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. On Benefits deals with themes of an ethical nature, within a context pertaining to concerns with regards to political leadership. As such, the work is concerned with the lives of aristocrats, and the nature of their relationships. This concern is of the form of and etiquette of bond-formation between persons by the giving and exchanging of gifts or services (favors), and is prescriptive of the way in which the aristocrats might behave, for the good of ancient Roman society.