Translations:CP 05413/17/en
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- ↑ This quotation often appears in Proust's correspondence. In 1914, it is found in January (CP 02690; Kolb, XIII, no. 38) or again in June (CP 02781; Kolb, XIII, no. 130). It comes from the Sentences of the Latin poet Publilius Syrus (85 B.C. - c. 43 B.C.): Inopi beneficium bis dat, qui dat celeriter ('It is to grant a benefit twice to a pauper to grant it promptly'). The lapidary formula (bis dat qui cito dat) is regularly attributed to Seneca (see for example La Flore latine des dames et des gens du monde, ou Clef des citations latines que l'on rencontre fréquemment [...], by Pierre Larousse, Paris, Larousse et Boyer éditeurs, 1861, p. 55). However, although Seneca's treatise On Benefits (De beneficiis) does indeed develop the idea that one should give 'promptly, without hesitation' (Book II, chapter 1), nowhere does it contain the adage in question. [LJ, FL]