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Ungrateful and overgrateful

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Often appears with: prayer and worship · parental discipline · duty, conscience, and obligation · divine design · distorted gratitude

Usually: argument (1) · exhortation (1) · reverence (1)

L. Annaeus Seneca on Benefits primary

Lucius Annaeus Seneca · c. 59-65 CE (approx.)
BOOK I. The prevalence of ingratitude--How a benefit ought to be bestowed--The three Graces--Benefits are the chief bond of human society--What we owe in return for a benefit received--A benefit consists not of a thing but of the wish to do good--Socrates and > BOOK VI. (16/28)

He claims the gods act by their own law and design includes human comfort, so humans owe gratitude; he adds that parents force useful discipline, and that ‘overgrateful’ or ungrateful attitudes both distort duty.

you under an obligation nevertheless; indeed, perhaps the greatest part of the benefit which he bestows is that he is ready to give even when you are complaining against him. XXIV. Do you not see how parents force children during their infancy to undergo what is useful for their health? Though the children cry and struggle, they swathe them and bind their limbs straight lest premature liberty should make them grow c…