Seneca Moral Epistles 9:3
Letters from a Stoic
Classical
But he need never lack friends, for it lies in his own control how soon he shall make good a loss. Just as Phidias, if he lose a statue, can straightway carve another, even so our master in the art of making friendships can fill the place of a friend he has lost. If you ask how one can make oneself a friend quickly, I will tell you, provided we are agreed that I may pay my debt at once and square the account, so far as this letter is concerned. Hecato, says: 'I can show you a philtre, compounded without drugs, herbs, or any witch's incantation: 'If you would be loved, love.'
Date: 65 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Matthew 7:12
New Testament
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets. 13 “Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it!
Date: 70-90 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
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Notes and References
"... Ricoeur's fatal error is mistranslating Jesus' 'as you wish that others would do' as 'as you expect that others would do.' The verb (e)thelem does not mean 'expect,' neither in classical nor Hellenistic Greek, nor anywhere in the New Testament! Jesus' form does not anticipate a response as the intention of the Golden Rule. (His implication of retribution applies more clearly to his example from Seneca's Moral Epistle 94 43, "αό alio expectes alteri quod fecems," than it does to the negative form of the rule) He asks disciples to get in touch with their own desires and act accordingly for the other. Thus the underlying motive could be love of neighbor as oneself (Leviticus 19:18) ..."
Topel, John
The Tarnished Golden Rule: The Inescapable Radicalness of Christian Ethics
(pp. 475-485) Theological Studies, 1998
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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