Pufendorf: On the Duty of Man and Citizen according to Natural Law

1. The third of the duties owed by every man to every man, to be performed for the sake of common sociality, is: everyone should be useful to others, so far as he conveniently can. For nature has established a kind of kinship among men. It is not enough not to have harmed, or not to have slighted, others. We must also give, or at least share, such things as will encourage mutual goodwill.

We are useful to others, either in an indefinite way or in a definite way; and it either costs us something, or it costs us nothing.

2. Someone is being useful to others in an indefinite way when he develops his mind and body to be a source of actions useful to others, or if he makes discoveries by the acuteness of his intellect for the betterment of human life. Hence they are thought to sin against this duty who learn no honest skill but passing their lives in silence, regard their mind as no more than salt to preserve them from decay, mere numbers ‘born to consume the fruits of the earth'. So do they who are content with their ancestral wealth, and believe they are justified in devoting themselves to idleness, because the industry of others has already assured their livelihood. So too do they ‘who hoard the wealth they have won not setting aside a portion for their kin\ Likewise those who, like pigs, give no one pleasure except by dying, and others of that sort, useless burdens on the earth.

3. To those who set themselves to do good to the human race, others owe duty not to be grudging nor to put obstacles in the way of their splendid endeavours. Then, even if they have no other way of repaying them, they will at least be extolling their memory and advancing their fame, which is the chief reward of toil.

4. It is thought to be a particularly odious act of ill will and inhumanity not to make freely available to others those good things which we can offer them without loss, labour or trouble to ourselves. Such things are normally recognized as beneficial and harmless; that is, things that help the recipient without burdening the giver.