diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 7491-8.txt | 2896 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 7491-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 68272 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/7amsc10.txt | 2863 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/7amsc10.zip | bin | 0 -> 68800 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/8amsc10.txt | 2863 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/8amsc10.zip | bin | 0 -> 68815 bytes |
9 files changed, 8638 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7491-8.txt b/7491-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef00514 --- /dev/null +++ b/7491-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2896 @@ +Project Gutenberg's De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream, by Marcus Tullius Ciceronis + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream + +Author: Marcus Tullius Ciceronis + +Release Date: February, 2005 +First Posted: May 10, 2003 [EBook #7491] +Last Updated: October 4, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DE AMICITIA, SCIPIO'S DREAM *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Charles Franks and the Distributed +Proofreaders Team + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO] + +De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream + +By Cicero + + +Translated, with an Introduction and Notes + +By Andrew P. Peabody + + + +SYNOPSIS. + +* * * * * + +DE AMICITIA + +1. Introduction. + +2. Reputation of Laelius for wisdom. The curiosity to know how he bore +the death of Scipio. + +3. His grounds of consolation in his bereavement + +4. He expresses his faith in immortality. Desires perpetual memory in +this world of the friendship between himself and Scipio. + +5. True friendship can exist only among good men. + +6. Friendship defined. + +7. Benefits derived from friendship. + +8. Friendship founded not on need, but on nature. + +9. The relation of utility to friendship. + +10. Causes for the separation of friends. + +11. How far love for friends may go. + +12. Wrong never to be done at a friend's request. + +13. Theories that degrade friendship + +14. How friendships are formed. + +15. Friendlessness wretched. + +16. The limits of friendship. + +17. In what sense and to what degree friends are united. How friends are +to be chosen and tested. + +18. The qualities to be sought in a friend. + +19. Old friends not to be forsaken for new. + +20. The duties of friendship between persons differing in ability, rank, +or position. + +21. How friendships should be dissolved, and how to guard against the +necessity of dissolving them. + +22. Unreasonable expectations of friends. Mutual respect necessary in +true friendship. + +23. Friendship necessary for all men. + +24. Truth-telling, though it often gives offence, an essential duty from +friend to friend. + +25. The power of truth. The arts of flattery. + +26. Flattery availing only with the feeble-minded. + +27. Virtue the soul of friendship. Laelius describes the intimacy of the +friendship between himself and Scipio. + + +* * * * * + + +SCIPIO'S DREAM. + +1. Scipio's visit to Masinissa. Circumstances under which the dream +occurred. + +2. Appearance of the elder Africanus, and of his own father, to Scipio. +Prophecy of Scipio's successes and honors, with an intimation of his +death by the hands of his kindred. + +3. Conditions on which heaven may be won. + +4. The nine spheres that constitute the universe. + +5. The music of the spheres. + +6. The five zones of the earth. + +7. Brevity and worthlessness of earthly fame. + +8. All souls eternal. + +9. The soul to be trained for immortality. The fate of those who merge +their souls in sense. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +DE AMICITIA. + +The _De Amicitia_, inscribed, like the _De Senectute_, to Atticus, was +probably written early in the year 44 B.C., during Cicero's retirement, +after the death of Julius Caesar and before the conflict with Antony. +The subject had been a favorite one with Greek philosophers, from whom +Cicero always borrowed largely, or rather, whose materials he made +fairly his own by the skill, richness, and beauty of his elaboration, +Some passages of this treatise were evidently suggested by Plato; and +Aulus Gellius says that Cicero made no little use of a now lost essay of +Theophrastus on Friendship. + +In this work I am especially impressed by Cicero's dramatic power. But +for the mediocrity of his poetic genius, he might have won pre-eminent +honor from the Muse of Tragedy. He here so thoroughly enters into the +feelings of Laelius with reference to Scipio's death, that as we read we +forget that it is not Laelius himself who is speaking. We find ourselves +in close sympathy with him, as if he were telling us the story of his +bereavement, giving utterance to his manly fortitude and resignation and +portraying his friend's virtues from the unfading image phototyped on +his own loving memory. In other matters too Cicero goes back to the time +of Laelius and assumes his point of view assigning to him just the +degree of foresight which he probably possessed and making not the +slightest reference to the very different aspect in which he himself had +learned to regard and was wont to represent the personages and events of +that earlier period. Thus while Cicero traced the downfall of the +republic to changes in the body politic that had taken place or were +imminent and inevitable when Scipio died he makes Laelius perceive only +a slight though threatening deflection from what had been in the earlier +time [Footnote 1]. So too though Cicero was annoyed more than by almost +any other characteristic of his age by the prevalence of the Epicurean +philosophy and ascribed to it in a very large degree the demoralization +of men in public life with Laelius the doctrines of this school are +represented as they must have been in fact as new and unfamiliar. In +time Laelius is here made to say not a word which he being the man that +he was and at the date assumed for this dialogue might not have said +himself; and it may be doubted whether a report of one of his actual +conversations would have seemed more truly genuine. + +This is a rare gift often sought indeed yet sought in vain not only by +dramatists who have very [Footnote 1 _Deflexit jam aliquantul im_] +seldom attained it but by authors of a very great diversity of type and +culture. One who undertakes to personate a character belonging to an age +not his own hardly ever fails of manifest anachronisms. The author finds +it utterly impossible to fit the antique mask so closely as not now and +then to show through its chinks his own more modern features, while this +form of internal evidence never fails to betray an intended forgery +however skilfully wrought. On the other hand there is no surer proof of +the genuineness of a work purporting to be of an earlier but alleged to +be of a later origin than the absence of all tokens of a time subsequent +to the earliest date claimed for it. [Footnote: Thus among the many +proofs of the genuineness of our canonical Gospels perhaps none is more +conclusive than the fact that though evidently written by unskilled men +they contain not a trace or token of certain opinions known to have been +rife even before the close of the first Christian century; while the (so +called) apocryphal Gospels bear, throughout, such vestiges of their +later origin as would neutralize the strongest testimony imaginable in +behalf of their primitive antiquity.] + +In connection with this work it should be borne in mind that the special +duties of friendship constituted an essential department of ethics in +the ancient world and that the relation of friend to friend was regarded +as on the same plane with that of brother to brother. No treatise on +morals would have been thought complete had this subject been omitted. +Not a few modern writers have attempted the formal treatment of +friendship but while the relation of kindred minds and souls has lost +none of its sacredness and value, the establishment of a code of rules +for it ignores on the one hand the spontaneity of this relation, and on +the other hand, its entire amenableness to the laws and principles that +should restrict and govern all human intercourse and conduct. + +Shaftesbury, in his 'Characteristics,' in his exquisite vein of irony +sneers at Christianity for taking no cognizance of friendship either in +its precepts or in its promises. Jeremy Taylor, however, speaks of this +feature of Christianity as among the manifest tokens of its divine +origin, and Soame Jenyns takes the same ground in a treatise expressly +designed to meet the objections and cavils of Shaftesbury and other +deistical writers of his time. These authors are all in the right and +all in the wrong, as to the matter of fact. There is no reason why +Christianity should prescribe friendship which is a privilege, not a +duty, or should essay to regulate it, for its only ethical rule of +strict obligation is the negative rule which would lay out for it a +track that shall never interfere with any positive duty selfward, +manward or Godward. But in the life of the Founder of Christianity, who +teaches, most of all, by example, friendship has its apogee,--its +supreme pre-eminence and honor. He treats his apostles and speaks of and +to them, not as mere disciples but as intimate and dearly beloved +friends, among these there are three with whom he stands in peculiarly +near relations, and one of the three was singled out by him in dying for +the most sacred charge that he left on the earth, while at the same time +that disciple shows in his Gospel that he had obtained an inside view so +to speak, of his Master's spiritual life and of the profounder sense of +his teachings which is distinguished by contrast rather than by +comparison from the more superficial narratives of the other +evangelists. + +But Christianity has done even more than this for friendship. It has +superseded its name by fulfilling its offices to a degree of perfectness +which had never entered into the ante-Christian mind. Man shrinks from +solitude. He feels inadequate to bear the burdens, meet the trials, and +wage the conflicts of this mortal life, alone. Orestes always needed and +craved a Pylades, but often failed to find one. This inevitable +yearning, when it met no human response found still less to satisfy it +in the objects of worship. Its gods, though in great part deified men, +could not be relied on for sympathy, support or help. The stronger +spirits did not believe in them, the feebler looked upon them only with +awe and dread. But Christianity, in its anthropomorphism, which is its +strongest hold on faith and trust, insures for the individual man in a +Divine Humanity precisely what friends might essay to do yet could do +but imperfectly for him. It proffers the tender sympathy and helpfulness +of Him who bears the griefs and carries the sorrows of each and all; +while the near view that it presents of the life beyond death inspires +the sense of unbroken union with friends in heaven, and of the +fellow-feeling of "a cloud of witnesses" beside. Thus while friendship in +ordinary life is never to be spurned when it may be had without +sacrifice of principle, it is less a necessity than when man's relations +with the unseen world gave no promise of strength, aid, or comfort. + +Experience has deepened my conviction that what is called a free +translation is the only fit rendering of Latin into English; that is, +the only way of giving to the English reader the actual sense of the +Latin writer. This last has been my endeavor. The comparison is, indeed, +exaggerated; but it often seems to me, in unrolling a compact Latin +sentence, as if I were writing out in words the meaning of an algebraic +formula. A single word often requires three or four as its English +equivalent. Yet the language is not made obscure by compression. On the +contrary, there is no other language in which it is so hard to bury +thought or to conceal its absence by superfluous verbiage. + +I have used Beier's edition of the _De Amicitia_, adhering to it in the +very few cases in which other good editions have a different reading. +There are no instances in which the various readings involve any +considerable diversity of meaning. + +LAELIUS. + +Caius Laelius Sapiens, the son of Caius Laelius, who was the life-long +friend of Scipio Africanus the Elder, was born B.C. 186, a little +earlier in the same year with his friend Africanus the Younger. He was +not undistinguished as a military commander, as was proved by his +successful campaign against Viriathus, the Lusitanian chieftain, who had +long held the Roman armies at bay, and had repeatedly gained signal +advantages over them. He was known in the State, at first as leaning, +though moderately and guardedly, to the popular side, but after the +disturbances created by the Gracchi, as a strong conservative. He was a +learned and accomplished man, was an elegant writer,--though while the +Latin tongue retained no little of its archaic rudeness,--and was +possessed of some reputation as an orator. Though bearing his part in +public affairs, holding at intervals the offices of Tribune, Praetor, +and Consul, and in his latter years attending with exemplary fidelity to +such duties as belonged to him as a member of the college of Augurs, he +yet loved retirement, and cultivated, so far as he was able, studious +and contemplative habits. He was noted for his wise economy of time. To +an idle man who said to him, "I have sixty years" [_Sexaginta annos +habeo._] (that is, I am sixty years old), he replied, "Do you mean the +sixty years which you have not?" His private life was worthy of all +praise for the virtues that enriched and adorned it; and its memory was +so fresh after the lapse of more than two centuries, that Seneca, who +well knew the better way which he had not always strength to tread, +advises his young friend Lucilius to "live with Laelius;" [_Vire cum +Laelio._] that is, to take his life as a model. + +The friendship of Laelius and the younger Scipio Africanus well deserves +the commemoration which it has in this dialogue of Cicero. It began in +their boyhood, and continued without interruption till Scipio's death. +Laelius served in Africa, mainly that he might not be separated from his +friend. To each the other's home was as his own. They were of one mind as to +public men and measures, and in all probability the more pliant nature +of Laelius yielded in great measure to the stern and uncompromising +adherence of Scipio to the cause of the aristocracy. While they were +united in grave pursuits and weighty interests, we have the most +charming pictures of their rural and seaside life together, even of +their gathering shells on the shore, and of fireside frolics in which +they forgot the cares of the republic, ceased to be stately old Romans, +and played like children in vacation-time. + +FANNIUS. + +Caius Fannius Strabo in early life served with high reputation in +Africa, under the younger Africanus, and afterward in Spain, in the war +with Viriathus. Like his father-in-law, he was versed in the philosophy +of the Stoic school, under the tuition of Panaetius. He was an orator, +as were almost all the Romans who aimed at distinction; but we have no +reason to suppose that he in this respect rose above mediocrity. He +wrote a history, of which Cicero speaks well, and which Sallust commends +for its accuracy; but it is entirely lost, and we have no direct +information even as to the ground which it covered. It seems probable, +however, that it was a history either of the third of the Punic wars, or +of all of them; for Plutarch quotes from him--probably from his History +--the statement that he, Fannius, and Tiberius Gracchus were the first to +mount the walls of Carthage when the city was taken. + +SCAEVOLA. + +Quintus Mucius Scaevola filled successively most of the important +offices of the State, and was for many years, and until death, a member +of the college of Augurs. He was eminent for his legal learning, and to +a late and infirm old age was still consulted in questions of law, never +refusing to receive clients at any moment after daylight. But while he +was regarded as foremost among the jurists of his time, he professed +himself less thoroughly versed in the laws relating to mortgages than +two of his coevals, to whom he was wont to send those who brought cases +of this class for his opinion or advice. He was remarkable for early +rising, constant industry, and undeviating punctuality,--at the meetings +of the Senate being always the first on the ground. + +No man held a higher reputation than Scaevola for rigid and scrupulous +integrity. It is related of him that when as a witness in court he had +given testimony full, clear, strong, and of the most damnatory character +against the person on trial, he protested against the conviction of the +defendant on his testimony, if not corroborated, on the principle, held +sacred in the Jewish law, that it would be a dangerous precedent to +suffer the issue of any case to depend on the intelligence and veracity +of a single witness. When, after Marius had been driven from the city, +Sulla asked the Senate to declare him by their vote a public enemy, +Scaevola stood in a minority of one; and when Sulla urged him to give +his vote in the affirmative, his reply was: "Although you show me the +military guard with which you have surrounded the Senate-house, although +you threaten me with death, you will never induce me, for the little +blood still in an old man's veins, to pronounce Marius--who has been the +preserver of the city and of Italy--an enemy." + +His daughter married Lucius Licinius Crassus, who had such reverence tor +his father-in-law, that, when a candidate for the consulship, he could +not persuade himself in the presence of Scaevola to cringe to the +people, or to adopt any of the usual self-humiliating methods of +canvassing for the popular vote. + + + + +SCIPIO'S DREAM. + +PALIMPSESTS [Footnote: _Rubbed again_,--the parchment, or papyrus, having +been first polished for use, and then rubbed as clean as possible, to be +used a second time.]--the name and the thing--are at least as old as +Cicero. In one of his letters he banters his friend Trebatius for +writing to him on a palimpsest,[Footnote: _In palimpsesto_.] and marvels +what there could have been on the parchment which he wanted to erase. +This was a device probably resorted to in that age only in the way in +which rigid economists of our day sometimes utilize envelopes and +handbills. But in the dark ages, when classical literature was under a +cloud and a ban, and when the scanty demand for writing materials made +the supply both scanty and precarious, such manuscripts of profane +authors as fell into the hands of ecclesiastical copyists were not +unusually employed for transcribing the works of the Christian Fathers +or the lives of saints. In such cases the erasion was so clumsily +performed as often to leave distinct traces of the previous letters. The +possibility of recovering lost writings from these palimpsests was first +suggested by Montfaucon in the seventeenth century; but the earliest +successful experiment of the kind was made by Bruns, a German scholar, +in the latter part of the eighteenth, century. The most distinguished +laborer in this field has been Angelo Mai, who commenced his work in +1814 on manuscripts in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, of which he was +then custodian. Transferred to the Vatican Library at Rome, he +discovered there, in 1821, a considerable portion of Cicero's _De +Republica_, which had been obliterated, and replaced by Saint +Augustine's Commentary on the Psalms. This latter being removed by +appropriate chemical applications, large portions of the original +writing remained legible, and were promptly given to the public. + +This treatise Cicero evidently considered, and not without reason, as +his master-work. It was written in the prime of his mental vigor, in the +fifty-fourth year of his age, after ample experience in the affairs of +State, and while he still hoped, more than he feared for the future of +Rome. His object was to discuss in detail the principles and forms of +civil government, to define the grounds of preference for a republic +like that of Rome in its best days, and to describe the duties and +responsibilities of a good citizen, whether in public office or in +private life. He regarded this treatise, in its ethics, as his own +directory in the government of his province of Cilicia, and as binding +him, by the law of self-consistency, to unswerving uprightness and +faithfulness, He refers to these six books on the Republic as so many +hostages [Footnote: _Praedibus_.] for his uncorrupt integrity and +untarnished honor, and makes them his apology to Atticus for declining +to urge an extortionate demand on the city of Salamis. + +The work is in the form of Dialogues, in which, with several +interlocutors beside, the younger Africanus and Laelius are the chief +speakers; and it is characterized by the same traits of dramatic genius +to which I have referred in connection with the _De Amicitia_. + +The _De Republica_ was probably under interdict during the reigns of the +Augustan dynasty; men did not dare to copy it, or to have it known that +they possessed it; and when it might have safely reappeared, the +republic had faded even from regretful memory, and there was no desire +to perpetuate a work devoted to its service and honor. Thus the world +had lost the very one of all Cicero's writings for which he most craved +immortality. The portions of it which Mai has brought to light fully +confirm Cicero's own estimate of its value, and feed the earnest--it is +to be feared the vain--desire for the recovery of the entire work. + +Scipio's Dream, which, is nearly all that remains of the Sixth Book of +the _De Republica_, had survived during the interval for which the rest +of the treatise was lost to the world. Macrobius, a grammarian of the +fifth century, made it the text of a commentary of little present +interest or value, but much prized and read in the Middle Ages. The +Dream, independently of the commentary, has in more recent times passed +through unnumbered editions, sometimes by itself, sometimes with +Cicero's ethical writings, sometimes with the other fragments of the _De +Republica_. + +In the closing Dialogue of the _De Republica_ the younger Africanus +says: "Although to the wise the consciousness of noble deeds is a most +ample reward of virtue, yet this divine virtue craves, not indeed +statues that need lead to hold them to their pedestals, nor yet triumphs +graced by withering laurels, but rewards of firmer structure and more +enduring green." "What are these?" says Laelius. Scipio replies by +telling his dream. The time of the vision was near the beginning of the +Third Punic War, when Scipio, no longer in his early youth, was just +entering upon the career in which he gained pre-eminent fame, +thenceforward to know neither shadow nor decline. + +* * * * * + +I have used for Scipio's Dream, Creuzer and Moser's edition of the _De +Republica_. + + + + +CICERO DE AMICITIA + +* * * * * + +1 Quintus Mucius, the Augur, used to repeat from memory, and in the most +pleasant way, many of the sayings of his father-in-law Caius Laelius, +never hesitating to apply to him in all that he said his surname of The +Wise. When I first put on the robe of manhood [Footnote: In the earliest +time a boy put on the _toga virilis_ when he had completed his sixteenth +year, in Cicero's time pupilage ceased a year earlier and by Justinin's +code the period at which it legally ceased was the commencement of the +fifteenth year. The Scaevola to whom Cicero was thus taken was Quintus +Mucius (Scaevola) the Augur, already named.] my father took me to +Scaevola and so commended me to his kind offices, that thenceforward, so +far as was possible and fitting I kept my place at the old man's side. +[Footnote: It was customary for youth in training for honorable +positions in the State to attach themselves especially to men of +established character and reputation, to attend them to public places, +and to remain near them whenever anything was to be learned from their +conversation, their legal opinions, their public harangues, or their +pleas before the courts. Distinguished citizens deemed themselves +honored by a retinue of such attendants. Cicero, in the _De Officiis_, +says that a young man may best commend himself to the early esteem and +confidence of the community by such an intimacy.] I thus laid up in my +memory many of his elaborate discussions of important subjects, as well +as many of his utterances that had both brevity and point, and my +endeavor was to grow more learned by his wisdom. After his death I stood +in a similar relation to the high-priest Scaevola, [Footnote: As Cicero +says, the most eloquent of jurists, and the most learned jurist among +the eloquent. He was at the same time pre-eminent for moral purity and +integrity. It was he, who, as Cicero (_De Officiis_, iii. 15) relates, +insisted on paying for an estate that he bought a much larger sum than +was asked for it, because its price had been fixed far below its actual +value.] whom I venture to call the foremost man of our city both in +ability and in uprightness. But of him I will speak elsewhere. I return +to the Augur. While I recall many similar occasions, I remember in +particular that at a certain time when I and a few of his more intimate +associates were sitting with him in the semicircular apartment +[Footnote: Latin, _hemicyclio,_ perhaps, a semicircular seat.] in his +house where he was wont to receive his friends, the conversation turned +on a subject about which almost every one was then talking, and which +you, Atticus, certainly recollect, as you were much in the society of +Publius Sulpicius; namely, the intense hatred with which Sulpicius, when +Tribune of the people, opposed Quintus Pompeius, then Consul, [Footnote: +The quarrel arose from the zealous espousal of the Marian faction by +Sulpicius, who resorted to arms, in order to effect the incorporation of +the new citizens from without the city among the previously existing +tribes. Hence a series of tumults and conflicts, in one of which a son +of Pompeius lost his life.] with whom he had lived in the closest and +most loving union,--a subject of general surprise and regret. Having +incidentally mentioned this affair, Scaevola proceeded to give us the +substance of a conversation on friendship, which Laelius had with him +and his other son-in-law, Caius Fannius, the son of Marcus, a few days +after the death of Africanus. I committed to memory the sentiments +expressed in that discussion, and I bring them out in the book which I +now send you. I have put them into the form of a dialogue, to avoid the +too frequent repetition of "said I" and "says he," and that the +discussion may seem as if it were held in the hearing of those who read +it. While you, indeed, have often urged me to write something about +friendship, the subject seems to me one of universal interest, and at +the same time specially appropriate to our intimacy. I have therefore +been very ready to seek the profit of many by complying with your +request. But as in the _Cato Major_, the work on Old Age inscribed to +you, I introduced the old man Cato as leading the discussion, because +there seemed to be no other person better fitted to talk about old age +than one who had been an aged man so long, and in his age had been so +exceptionally vigorous, so, as we had heard from our fathers of the +peculiarly memorable intimacy of Caius Laelius and Publius Scipio, it +appeared appropriate to put into the mouth of Laelius what Scaevola +remembered as having been said by him when friendship was the subject in +on the authority of men of an earlier generation, and illustrious in +their time, seems somehow to be of specially commanding influence on the +reader's mind. Thus, as I read my own book on Old Age, I am sometimes so +affected that I feel as if not I, but Cato, were talking. But as I then +wrote as an old man to an old man about old age, so in this book I write +as the most loving of friends to a friend about friendship. [Footnote: +In the Latin we have here two remarkable series of assonances, +rhythmical to the ear, and though translatable in sense not so in +euphony. "Ut tum _senex_ ad _senem_ de _senectute,_ sic hoc libro ad +_amicum amicissimus_, de _amicitia_ scripsi."] Then Cato was the chief +speaker, than whom there was in his time scarcely any one older, and no +one his superior in intellect, now Laelius shall hold the first place, +both as a wise man (for so he was regarded), and as excelling in all +that can do honor to friendship. I want you for the while to turn your +mind away from me, and to imagine that it is Laelius who is speaking. +Caius Fannius and Quintus Mucius come to their father-in-law after the +death of Africanus. They commence the conversation, Laelius answers +them. In reading all that he says about friendship, you will recognize +the picture of your own friendship for me. + +2 FANNIUS It is as you say, [Footnote: The reference is to what Laelius +is supposed to have said already. The dialogue, as given here, is made +to commence in the midst of a conversation.] Laelius, for there never +was a better man, or one more justly renowned, than Africanus, But you +ought to bear it in mind that the eyes of all are turned upon you at +this time, for they both call you and think you wise. This distinction +has been latterly given to Cato, and you know that in the days of our +fathers Lucius Atilius [Footnote: The first Roman known to have borne +the surname of Sapiens He was one of the earliest of the juriconsults +who took pupils.] was in like manner surnamed The Wise, but both of them +were so called for other reasons than those which have given you this +name,--Atilius, for his reputation as an adept in municipal law, Cato, +for the versatility of his endowments for there were reported to his +honor many measures wisely planned and vigorously carried through in the +Senate, and many cases skilfully defended in the courts, so that in his +old age The Wise was generally applied to him as a surname. But you are +regarded as wise on somewhat different grounds, not only for your +disposition and your moral worth, but also for your knowledge and +learning, and not in the estimation of the common people, but in that of +men of advanced culture, you are deemed wise in a sense in which there +is reason to suppose that in Greece--where those who look into these +things most discriminatingly do not reckon the seven who bear the name +as on the list of wise men--no one was so regarded except the man in +Athens whom the oracle of Apollo designated as the wisest of +men.[Footnote: Socrates.] In fine, you are thought to be wise in this +sense, that you regard all that appertains to your happiness as within +your own soul, and consider the calamities to which man is liable as of +no consequence in comparison with virtue. I am therefore asked, and so, +I believe, is Scaevola, who is now with us, how you bear the death of +Africanus; and the question is put to us the more eagerly, because on +the fifth day of the month next following, [Footnote: Latin, _proxumis +nonis_. The _nones_, the ninth day before the _ides_, fell on the fifth +of the month, except in March. May, July, and October, when the _ides_ +were two days later. We have elsewhere intimation that the Augurs held +a meeting for business on the _nones_ of each month.] when we met, as +usual, in the garden of Decimus Brutus the Augur, to discuss our +official business, you were absent, though it was your habit always on +that day to give your most careful attendance to the duties of your +office. + +SCAEVOLA. As Fannius says, Caius Laelius, many have asked me this +question. But I answered in accordance with what I have seen, that you +were bearing with due moderation your sorrow for the death of this your +most intimate friend, though you, with your kindly nature, could not +fail to be moved by it; but that your absence from the monthly meeting +of the Augurs was due to illness, not to grief. + +LAELIUS. You were in the right, Scaevola, and spoke the truth; for it +was not fitting, had I been in good health, for me to be detained by my +own sad feeling from this duty, which I have never failed to discharge; +nor do I think that a man of firm mind can be so affected by any +calamity as to neglect his duty. It is, indeed, friendly in you, +Fannius, to tell me that better things are said of me than I feel worthy +of or desire to have said; but it seems to me that you underrate Cato. +For either there never was a wise man (and so I am inclined to think), +or if there has been such a man, Cato deserves the name. To omit other +things, how nobly did he bear his son's death! I remembered Paulus, +[Footnote: Paulus Aemilius, who lost two sons, one a few days before, +the other shortly after, the triumph decreed to him for the conquest of +the Macedonian King Perseus.] I had seen Gallus,[Footnote: Gaius +Sulpicius Gallus, mentioned as an astronomer by Cicero, _De Officiis_, +i. 6, and _De Senectute_, 14.] in their bereavements. But they lost +boys; Cato, a man in his prime and respected by all.[Footnote: The +younger Cato had won fame as a soldier and distinguished eminence as a +jurist. At the time of his death he was praetor elect.] Beware how you +place in higher esteem than Cato even the man whom Apollo, as you say, +pronounced superlatively wise; for it is the deeds of Cato, the sayings +of Socrates, that are held in honor. Thus far in reply to Fannius. As +regards myself, I will now answer both of you. + +3. Were I to deny that I feel the loss of Scipio, while I leave it to +those who profess themselves wise in such matters to say whether I ought +to feel it, I certainly should be uttering a falsehood. I do indeed feel +my bereavement of such a friend as I do not expect ever to have again, +and as I am sure I never had beside. But I need no comfort from without, +I console myself, and, chief of all, I find comfort in my freedom from +the apprehension that oppresses most men when their friends die, for I +do not think that any evil has befallen Scipio. If evil has befallen, it +is to me. But to be severely afflicted by one's own misfortunes is the +token of self-love, not of friendship. As for him, indeed who can deny +that the issue has been to his pre-eminent glory? Unless he had +wished--what never entered into his mind--an endless life on earth what +was there within human desire that did not accrue to the man who in his +very earliest youth by his incredible ability and prowess surpassed the +highest expectations that all had formed of his boyhood, who never +sought the consulship, yet was made consul twice, the first time before +the legal age,[Footnote: He left the army in Africa B.C. 147 for home to +offer himself as a candidate for the aedileship, for which he had just +reached the legal age of thirty seven; but such accounts of his ability +efficiency, and courage had preceded him and followed him from the army, +that he was chosen Consul, virtually by popular acclamation.] the second +time in due season as to himself, but almost too late for his +country,[Footnote: The war in Spain had been continued for several +years, with frequent disaster and disgrace to the Roman army, when +Scipio, B.C. 134, was chosen Consul with a special view to this war, +which he closed by the capture and destruction of Numantia, in connection +with which, it must be confessed, his record is rather that of a +relentless and sanguinary enemy than of a generous and placable +antagonist.] who by the overthrow of two cities implacably hostile to +the Roman empire put a period, not only to the wars that were but to +wars that else must have been? What shall I say of the singular +affability of his manners, of his filial piety to his mother, [Footnote: +He was the son of Paulus Aemilius, and the adopted son of Publius +Cornelius Scipio Africanus. His mother, divorced for no assignable +reason, was left very poor, and her son, on the death of the widow of +his adopting father, gave her the entire patrimony that came into his +possession.] of his generosity to his sisters, [Footnote: After his +mother's death, law and custom authorized him to resume what he had +given her, but he bestowed it on his sisters, thus affording them the +means of living comfortably and respectably.] of his integrity in his +relations with all men? How dear he was to the community was shown by +the grief at his funeral. What benefit, then, could he have derived from +a few more years? For, although old age be not burdensome,--as I +remember that Cato, the year before he died, maintained in a +conversation with me and Scipio, [Footnote: The _De Senectute_]--it yet +impairs the fresh vigor which Scipio had not begun to lose. Thus his +life was such that nothing either in fortune or in fame could be added +to it, while the suddenness of his death must have taken away the pain +of dying. Of the mode of his death it is hard to speak with certainty, +you are aware what suspicions are abroad. [Footnote: He retired to his +sleeping apartment apparently in perfect health, and was found dead on +his couch in the morning,--as was rumored, with marks of violence on his +neck. His wife was Sempronia, the sister of the Gracchi whose agrarian +schemes he had vehemently opposed. She was suspected of having at least +given admission to the assassin, and even her mother, the Cornelia who +has been regarded as unparelleled among Roman women for the virutes +appertaining to a wife and mother, did not escape the charge of +complicity. Her son Caius was also among those suspected, but the more +probable opinion is that Papirius Carbo was alone answerable for the +crime. Carbo had been Scipio's most bitter enemy and had endeavoured to +inflame the people against him as their enemy.] But this may be said +with truth that of the many days of surpassing fame and happiness which +Publius Scipio saw in his lifetime, the most glorious was the day before +his death when on the adjournment of the Senate he was escorted home by +the Conscript Fathers, the Roman people, the men of Latium and the +allies, [Footnote: Scipio had at that session of the senate proposed a +measure in the utmost degree offensive to Caius Gracchus and his party. +The law of Tiberius Gracchus would have disposed, at the hands of the +commissioners appointed under it, of large tracts of land belonging to +the Italian allies. Scipio's plan provided that such lands should be +taken out of the jurisdiction of the commissioners, and that matters +relating to them should be adjudged by a different board to be specially +appointed--a measure which would have been a virtual abrogation of the +agrarian law. On this account he had his honorable escort home, and on +this account, in all probability, he was mudered.]--so that from so +high a grade of honor he seems to have passed on into the assembly of +the gods rather than to have gone down into the underworld. + +4 For I am far from agreeing with those who have of late promulgated the +opinion that the soul perishes with the body and that death blots out +the whole being. [Footnote: The reference here is of course to the +Epicurians. This school of philosophy had grown very rapidly, and +numbered many disciples when this essay was written; but in the time of +Laelius it had but recently invaded Rome, and Amafanius, who must have +been his contemporary, was the earliest Roman writer who expounded its +doctrine] I on the other hand attach superior value to the authority of +the ancients whether that of our ancestors who established religious +rites for the dead which they certainly would not have done if they had +thought the dead wholly unconcerned in such observances [Footnote: This +is sound reasoning as these rites were annually renewed and consisted in +great part of the invocation of ancestors--a custom which could not have +originated if those ancestors were supposed to be utterly dead. This +passage may remind the reader of the answer of Jesus Christ to the +Sadducees, who denied that the Pentateuch contained any intimation of +immortality. He quotes the passage in which God is represented as +saying, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of +Jacob," and adds, "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living," +implying that ancestors whom the writer of that record supposed to be +dead could not have been thus mentioned.] or that of the former Greek +colonists in this country who by their schools and teaching made +Southern Italy [Footnote: Latin _Magna Graecia_-the name given to the +cluster of Greek colonies that were scattered thick along the shore of +Southern Italy. At Croton in Magna Graecia Pythagoras established his +school and the colonies were the chief seat and seminary of his +philosophy which taught the immortality of the soul.]--now in its +decline, then flourishing--a seat of learning, or that of him whom the +oracle of Apollo pronounced the wisest of men who said not one thing +to-day, another to-morrow, as many do, but the same thing always, +maintaining that the souls of men are divine, and that when they go out +from the body, the return to heaven is open to them, and direct and easy +in proportion to their integrity and excellence. This was also the +opinion of Scipio, who seemed prescient of the event so near, when, a +very short time before his death, he discoursed for three successive +days about the republic in the presence of Philus, Manilius, and several +others,--you, Scaevola, having gone with me to the conferences,--and +near the close of the discussion he told us what he said that he had +heard from Africanus in a vision during sleep. [Footnote: The _De +Republica_ consists of dialogues on three successive days in Scipio's +garden, and Scipio is the chief speaker. The work was supposed to be +irrecoverably lost, with the exception of this Dream of Scipio and a few +fragments, but considerable portions of it were discovered in a +palimpsest in 1822. The Dream of Scipio will be found in the latter part +of this volume.] If it is true that the soul of every man of surpassing +excellence takes flight, as it were, from the custody and bondage of the +body, to whom can we imagine the way to the gods more easy than to +Scipio? I therefore fear to mourn for this his departure, lest in such +grief there be more of envy than of friendship. But if truth incline to +the opinion that soul and body have the same end, and that there is no +remaining consciousness, then, as there is nothing good in death, there +certainly is nothing of evil For if consciousness be lost, the case is +the same with Scipio as if he had never been born, though that he was +born I have so ample reason to rejoice, and this city will be glad so +long as it shall stand Thus in either event, with him, as I have said, +all has issued well, though with great discomfort for me, who more +fittingly, as I entered into life before him ought to have left it +before him. But I so enjoy the memory of our friendship, that I seem to +have owed the happiness of my life to my having lived with Scipio, with +whom I was united in the care of public interests and of private +affairs, who was my companion at home and served by my side in the army +[Footnote: Laelus went with Scipio on the campaign which resulted in the +destruction of Carthage.] and with whom--and therein lies the special +virtue of friendship--I was in perfect harmony of purpose, taste, and +sentiment. Thus I am now not so much delighted by the reputation for +wisdom of which Fannius has just spoken, especially as I do not deserve +it, as by the hope that our friendship will live in eternal remembrance, +and this I have the more at heart because from all ages scarce three or +four pairs of friends are on record, [Footnote: Those referred to +probably Theseus and Peirithous, Achilles and Patroclus, Orestes and +Pylades, Damon and Phintius,--all but the last, perhaps the last also, +mythical] on which list I cannot but hope that the friendship of Scipio +and Laelius will be known to posterity. + +FANNIUS. It cannot fail, Laelius, to be as you desire. But since you +have made mention of friendship, and we are at leisure, you will confer +on me a very great favor, and, I trust, on Scaevola too, if, as you are +wont to do on other subjects when your opinion is asked, you will +discourse to us on friendship, and tell us what you think about it, in +what estimation you hold it, and what rules you would give for it. + +SCAEVOLA. This will indeed be very gratifying to me, and had not Fannius +anticipated me, I was about to make the same request. You thus will +bestow a great kindness on both of us. + +5. LAELIUS. I certainly would not hesitate, if I had confidence in my +own powers; for the subject is one of the highest importance, and, as +Fannius says, we are at leisure. It is the custom of philosophers, +especially among the Greeks, to have subjects assigned to them, which +they discuss even without premeditation. [Footnote: This was the boast +and pride of the Greek sophists.] This is a great accomplishment, and +requires no small amount of exercise. I therefore think that you ought +to seek the treatment of friendship by those who profess this art. I can +only advise you to prefer friendship to all things else within human +attainment, insomuch as nothing beside is so well fitted to nature,--so +well adapted to our needs whether in prosperous or in adverse +circumstances. But I consider this as a first principle--that friendship +can exist only between good men. In thus saying, I would not be so rigid +in definition [Footnote: Latin. _Neque ut ad ilium reseco_, literally, +nor in this matter do I cut to the quick.] as those who establish +specially subtle distinctions, [Footnote: The Stoics of the more rigid +type, who maintained that the wise man alone is good, but denied that +the truly wise man had yet made his appearance on the earth.] with +literal truth it may be, but with little benefit to the common mind; for +they will not admit that any man who is not wise is a good man. This may +indeed be true. But they understand by wisdom a state which no mortal +has yet attained; while we ought to look at those qualities which are to +be found in actual exercise and in common life, not at those which exist +only in fancy or in aspiration. Caius Fabricius, Manius Curius, Tiberius +Coruncanius, wise as they were in the judgment of our fathers, I will +consent not to call wise by the standard of these philosophers. Let them +keep for themselves the name of wisdom, which is invidious and of +doubtful meaning, if they will only admit that these may have been good +men. But they will not grant even this; they insist on denying the name +of good to any but the wise. I therefore adopt the standard of common +sense. [Footnote: Latin _agamus igitur piagui (ut aiunt) Minerva_, that +is with a less refined, a grosser wisdom more nearly conformed to the +sound, if somewhat crass, common-sense of the majority.] Those who +integrity, equity, and kindness win approval, who are entirely free from +avarice, lust and the infirmities of a hasty temper, and in whom there +is perfect consistency of character, in fine men like those whom I have +named while they are regarded as good, ought to be so called, because to +the utmost of human capacity they follow Nature who is the best guide in +living well. Indeed, it seems to me thoroughly evident that there should +be a certain measure of fellowship among all, but more intimate the +nearer we approach one another. Thus this feeling has more power between +fellow-citizens than toward foreigners, between kindred than between +those of different families. Toward our kindred, Nature herself produces +a certain kind of friendship. But this lacks strength, and indeed +friendship in its full sense, has precedence of kinship in this +particular, that good-will may be taken away from kinship, not from +friendship, for when good will is removed, friendship loses its name, +while that of kinship remains. How great is the force of friendship we +may best understand from this,--that out of the boundless society of the +human race which Nature has constituted, the sense of fellowship is so +contracted and narrowed that the whole power of loving is bestowed on +the union of two or a very few friends. + +6 Friendship is nothing else than entire fellow feeling as to all things +human and divine with mutual good-will and affection; (1) and I doubt +whether anything better than this, wisdom alone excepted, has been given +to, man by the immortal gods Some prefer riches to it, some, sound +health, some, power, some, posts of honor, many, even sensual +gratification. This last properly belongs to beasts, the others are +precarious and uncertain, dependent not on our own choice so much as on +the caprice of Fortune. Those, indeed, who regard virtue as the supreme +good are entirely in the right, but it is virtue itself that produces +and sustains friendship, not without virtue can friendship by any +possibility exist. In saying this, however I would interpret virtue in +accordance with our habits of speech and of life, not defining it, as +some philosophers do, by high-sounding words, but numbering on the list +of good men those who are commonly so regarded,--the Pauli, the Catos, +the Galli, the Scipios, the Phili Mankind in general [1 It may be +doubted whether this close conformity of opinion and feeling is +essential, or even favorable to friendship. The amicable comparison and +collision of thought and sentiment are certainly consistent with, and +often conducive to the most friendly intimacy. Friends are not +infrequently the complements, rather than the likeness, of each other. +Cicero and Atticus were as close friends as Scipio and Laelius; but they +were at many points exceedingly unlike. Atticus had the tact and skill +in worldly matters, which Cicero lacked. Atticus kept aloof from public +affairs while Cicero was unhappy whenever he could not imagine himself +as taking a leading part in them. Atticus was an Epicurean, and Cicero +never lost an opportunity of attacking the Epicurean philosophy.] are +content with these. Let us then leave out of the account such good men +as are nowhere to be found. Among such good men as there really are, +friendship has more advantages than I can easily name. In the first, +place, as Ennius says;-- + +"How can life be worth living, if devoid of the calm trust reposed by +friend in friend? What sweeter joy than in the kindred soul? Whose +converse differs not from self-communion?" + +How could you have full enjoyment of prosperity, unless with one whose +pleasure in it was equal to your own? Nor would it be easy to bear +adversity, unless with the sympathy of one on whom it rested more +heavily than on your own soul. Then, too, other objects of desire are, +in general, adapted, each to some specific purpose,--wealth, that you +may use it; power, that you may receive the homage of those around you; +posts of honor, that you may obtain reputation; sensual gratification, +that you may live in pleasure; health, that you may be free from pain, +and may have full exercise of your bodily powers and faculties. But +friendship combines the largest number of utilities. Wherever you turn, +it is at hand. No place shuts it out. It is never unseasonable, never +annoying. Thus, as the proverb says, "You cannot put water or fire to +more uses than friendship serves." I am not now speaking of the common +and moderate type of friendship, which yet yields both pleasure and +profit, but, of true and perfect friendship, like that which existed in +the few instances that are held in special remembrance. Such friendship +at once enhances the lustre of prosperity, and by dividing and sharing +adversity lessens its burden. + +7. Moreover, while friendship comprises the greatest number and variety +of beneficent offices, it certainly has this special prerogative, that +it lights up a good hope for the time to come, and thus preserves the +minds that it sustains from imbecility or prostration in misfortune. For +he, indeed, who looks into the face of a friend beholds, as it were, a +copy of himself. Thus the absent are present, and the poor are rich, and +the weak are strong, and--what seems stranger still [Footnote: +Literally, _what is harder to say_.]--the dead are alive, such is the +honor, the enduring remembrance, the longing love, with which the dying +are followed by the living; so that the death of the dying seems happy, +the life of the living full of praise. [Footnote: The sense of this +sentence is somewhat overlaid by the rhetoric; yet it undoubtedly means +that an absent friend is esteemed and honored in the person of the +friend who not only loves him, but is regarded as representing him; that +a poor friend enjoys the prosperity of his rich friend as if it were his +own; that a weak friend feels his feebleness energized by the friend who +in need will fight his battles for him; and that no man is suffered to +lapse from the kind and reverent remembrances of those who see his +likeness in the friend who keeps his memory green.] But if from the +condition of human life you were to exclude all kindly union, no house, +no city, could stand, nor, indeed, could the tillage of the field +survive. If it is not perfectly understood what virtue there is in +friendship and concord, it may be learned from dissension and discord. +For what house is so stable, what state so firm, that it cannot be +utterly overturned by hatred and strife? Hence it may be ascertained how +much good there is in friendship. It is said that a certain philosopher +of Agrigentum [Footnote: Empedocles. Only a few fragments of his great +poem are extant. His theory seems like a poetical version of Newton's +law of universal gravitation. The analogy between physical attraction +and the mutual attraction of congenial minds and souls has its record in +the French word _aimant_, denoting _loadstone_ or _magnet_.] sang in +Greek verse that it is friendship that draws together and discord that +parts all things which subsist in harmony, and which have their various +movements in nature and in the whole universe. The worth and power of +friendship, too, all mortals understand, and attest by their approval in +actual instances. Thus, if there comes into conspicuous notice an +occasion on which a friend incurs or shares the perils of his friend, +who can fail to extol the deed with the highest praise? What shouts +filled the whole theatre at the performance of the new play of my guest +[Footnote: Or _host_; for the word _hospes_ may have either meaning. It +denotes not the fact of giving or receiving hospitality, but the +permanent and sacred relation established between host and guest. This +relation has lost much of its character in modern civilization, and I +doubt whether it has a name in any modern European language.] and friend +Marcus Pacuvius, when--the king not knowing which of the two was +Orestes--Pylades said that he was Orestes, while Orestes persisted in +asserting that he was, as in fact he was, Orestes! [Footnote: Among the +many and conflicting legends about Orestes is that which seems to have +been the theme of the lost tragedy of Pacuvius. Orestes, after avenging +on his mother and her paramour the murder of his father, in order to +expiate the guilt of matricide, was directed by the Delphian oracle to +go to Tauris, and to steal and transport to Athens an image of Artemis +that had fallen from heaven. His friend Pylades accompanied him on this +expedition. They were seized by Thoas the king, and Orestes, as the +principal offender, was to be sacrificed to Artemis. His sister, +Iphigeneia, priestess of Artemis, contrived their escape, and the three +arrived safe at Athens with the sacred image.] The whole assembly rose +in applause at this mere fictitious representation. What may we suppose +that they would have done, had the same thing occurred in real life? In +that case Nature herself displayed her power, when men recognized that +as rightly done by another, which they would not have had the courage to +do themselves. Thus far, to the utmost of my ability as it seems to me, +I have given you my sentiments concerning friendship. If there is more +to be said, as I think that there is, endeavor to obtain it, if you see +fit, of those who are wont to discuss such subjects. + +FANNIUS. But we would rather have it from you. Although I have often +consulted those philosophers also, and have listened to them not +unwillingly, yet the thread of your discourse differs somewhat from that +of theirs. + +SCAEVOLA. You would say so all the more, Fannius, had you been present +in Scipio's garden at that discussion about the republic, and heard what +an advocate of justice he showed himself in answer to the elaborate +speech of Philus. [Footnote: Carneades, when on an embassy to Rome, for +the entertainment of his Roman hosts, on one day delivered a discourse +in behalf of justice as the true policy for the State, and on the next +day delivered an equally subtile and eloquent discourse maintaining the +opposite thesis. In the third Book of the _De Republica_ Philus is made +the "devil's advocate," and has assigned to him the championship of what +we are wont to call a Machiavelian policy, and, in general, of the +morally wrong as the politically right. He is represented as taking the +part reluctantly, saying that one consents to soil his hands in order to +find gold, and he professes to give the substance of the famous +discourse of Carneades. Laelius answers him, and, so far as we can +judge from the fragments of his reply that are extant, with the +preponderance of reason, which Cicero intended should incline on the +better side. There was perhaps a sublatent irony in making Philus play +this part; for he was an eminently upright man. Valerius Maximus +eulogizes him for his rigid integrity and impartiality, and relates that +when at the expiration of his consulship he was sent to take command of +the army against Numantia, he chose for his lieutenants Metellus and +Pompeius, both his intensely bitter enemies, but the men best fitted for +the service.] + +FANNIUS. It was indeed easy for the man pre-eminently just to defend +justice. + +SCAEVOLA. As to friendship, then, is not its defence easy for him who +has won the highest celebrity on the ground of friendship maintained +with pre-eminent faithfulness, consistency, and probity? + +8. LAELIUS. This is, indeed, the employing of force; for what matters +the way in which you compel me? You at any rate do compel me; for it is +both hard and unfair not to comply with the wishes of one's sons-in-law, +especially in a case that merits favorable consideration. + +In reflecting, then, very frequently on friendship, the foremost +question that is wont to present itself is, whether friendship is craved +on account of conscious infirmity and need, so that in bestowing and +receiving the kind offices that belong to it each may have that done for +him by the other which he is least able to do for himself, reciprocating +services in like manner; or whether, though this relation of mutual +benefit is the property, of friendship it has yet another cause; more +sacred and more noble, and derived more genuinely from the very nature +of man. Love, which in our language gives name to friendship, [Footnote: +_Amor,--amicitia._] bears a chief part in unions of mutual benefit; for +a revenue of service is levied even on those who are cherished in +pretended friendship, and are treated with regard from interested +motives. But in friendship there is nothing feigned, nothing pretended, +and whatever there is in it is both genuine and spontaneous. Friendship, +therefore, springs from nature rather than from need,--from an +inclination of the mind with a certain consciousness of love rather than +from calculation of the benefit to be derived from it. Its real quality +may be discerned even in some classes of animals, which up to a certain +time so love their offspring, and are so loved by them, that the mutual +feeling is plainly seen,--a feeling which is much more clearly manifest +in man, first, in the affection which exists between children and +parents, and which can be dissolved only by atrocious guilt; and in the +next place, in the springing up of a like feeling of love, when we find +some one of manners and character congenial with our own, who becomes +dear to us because we seem to see in him an illustrious example of +probity and virtue. For there is nothing more lovable than virtue,--nothing +which more surely wins affectionate regard, insomuch that on the +score of virtue and probity we love even those whom we have never seen. +Who is there that does not recall the memory of Caius Fabricius, of +Manius Curius, of Tiberius Coruncanras, whom he never saw, with some +good measure of kindly feeling? On the other hand, who is there that can +fail to hate Tarquinius Superbus, Spurius Cassius, Spurius Maelius? Our +dominion in Italy was at stake in wars under two commanders, Pyrrhus and +Hannibal. On account of the good faith of the one, we hold him in no +unfriendly remembrance; [Footnote: Pyrrhus, after the only victory that +he obtained over the Romans, treated his prisoners with signal humanity, +and restored them without ransom. See _De Officiis_, i. 12] the other +because of his cruelty our people must always hate. [Footnote: It may be +doubted whether Hannibal deserved the reproach here implied. The Roman +historians ascribe to him acts of cruelty no worse than their own +generals were chargeable with: while nothing of the kind is related by +either Polybius, or Plutarch. It is certain that after the battle of +Cannae he checked the needless slaughter of the Roman fugitives, and +Livy relates several instances in which he paid funeral honors, to +distinguished Romans slain in battle. The intense hostility of the +Romans to Carthage may have led to an unfair estimate of the great +general's character, and to the invention or exaggeration of reports to +his discredit.] + +9. But if good faith has such attractive power that we love it in those +whom we have never seen, or--what means still more--in an enemy, what +wonder is it if the minds of men are moved to affection when they behold +the virtue and goodness of those with whom they can become intimately +united? + +Love is, indeed, strengthened by favors received, by witnessing +assiduity in one's service, and by habitual intercourse; and when these +are added to the first impulse of the mind toward love, there flames +forth a marvellously rich glow of affectionate feeling. If there are any +who think that this proceeds from conscious weakness and the desire to +have some person through whom one can obtain what he lacks, they assign, +indeed, to friendship a mean and utterly ignoble origin, born, as they +would have it, of poverty and neediness. If this were true, then the +less of resource one was conscious of having in himself, the better +fitted would he be for friendship. The contrary is the case; for the +more confidence a man has in himself, and the more thoroughly he is +fortified by virtue and wisdom, so that he is in need of no one, and +regards all that concerns him as in his own keeping, the more noteworthy +is he for the friendships which he seeks and cherishes. What? Did +Africanus need me? Not in the least by Hercules. As little did I need +him. But I was drawn to him by admiration of his virtue while he, in +turn, loved me, perhaps from some favorable estimate of my character, +and intimacy increased our mutual affection. But though utilities many +and great resulted from our friendship, the cause of our mutual love did +not proceed from the hope of what it might bring. For as we are +beneficent and generous, not in order to exact kindnesses in return (for +we do not put our kind offices to interest), but are by nature inclined +to be generous, so, in my opinion, friendship is not to be sought for +its wages, but because its revenue consists entirely in the love which +it implies. Those, however, who, after the manner of beasts, refer +everything to pleasure, [Footnote: The Epicureans] think very +differently. Nor is it wonderful that they do, for men who have degraded +all their thoughts to so mean and contemptible an end can rise to the +contemplation of nothing lofty, nothing magnificent and divine. We may, +therefore, leave them out of this discussion. But let us have it well +understood that the feeling of love and the endearments of mutual +affection spring from nature, in case there is a well-established +assurance of moral worth in the person thus loved. Those who desire to +become friends approach each other, and enter into relation with each +other, that each may enjoy the society and the character of him whom he +has begun to love, and they are equal in love, and on either side are +more inclined to bestow obligations than to claim a return, so that in +this matter there is an honorable rivalry between them. Thus will the +greatest benefits be derived from friendship, and it will have a more +solid and genuine foundation as tracing its origin to nature than if it +proceeded from human weakness. For if it were utility that cemented +friendships, an altered aspect of utility would dissolve them. But +because nature cannot be changed, therefore true friendships are +eternal. This may suffice for the origin of friendship, unless you have, +perchance, some objection to what I have said. + +FANNIUS. Go on, Laelius. I answer by the right of seniority for Scaevola +who is younger than I am. + +SCAEVOLA. I am of the same mind with you. Let us then, hear farther. + +10 LAELIUS. Hear then, my excellent friends the substance of the +frequent discussions on friendship between Scipio and me. He indeed, +said [Footnote: The construction of this entire section is in the +subjective imperfect depending on the _dicebat_ in the second sentence. +It has seemed to me that the direct form of constiution which I have +adopted is more consonant with the genius of our language.] that nothing +is more difficult than for friendship to last through life; for friends +happen to have conflicting interests, or different political opinions. +Then, again, as he often said, characters change, sometimes under +adverse conditions, sometimes with growing years. He cited also the +analogy of what takes place in early youth, the most ardent loves of +boyhood being often laid aside with its robe. But if friendships last on +into opening manhood, they are not infrequently broken up by rivalry in +quest of a wife, or in the pursuit of some advantage which only one can +obtain. [Footnote: Had Cicero not been personating Laelius, who died +long before the quarrel occurred, he would undoubtedly have cited the +case of Servilius Caepio and Livius Diusus. They married each other's +sisters, and were united in the closest intimacy, and seemingly in the +dearest mutual love; but as rivals in bidding for a ring at an +auction-sale they had their first quarrel, which grew into intense mutual +hatred, led almost to a civil war between their respective partisans, +and bore no small part in starting the series of dissentions which +issued in the Social War, and the destruction of not far from three +hundred thousand lives. I refer to this in a note, because it must have +been fresh in Cicero's memory, and had annotation been the habit of his +time, he would most assuredly have given it the place which I now give +it.] Then, if friendships are of longer duration, they yet, as Scipio +said, are liable to be undermined by competition for office; and indeed +there is nothing more fatal to friendship than, in very many cases, the +greed of gain, and among some of the best of men the contest for place +and fame, which has often engendered the most intense enmity between +those who had been the closest friends. Strong and generally just +aversion, also, springs up when anything morally wrong is required of a +friend; as when he is asked to aid in the gratification of impure +desire, or to render his assistance in some unrighteous act,--in which +case those who refuse, although their conduct is highly honorable, are +yet charged by the persons whom they will not serve with being false to +the claims of friendship, while those who dare to make such a demand of +a friend profess, by the very demand, that they are ready to do anything +and everything for a friend's sake. By such quarrels, not only are old +intimacies often dissolved, but undying hatreds generated. So many of +these perils hang like so many fates over friendship, that to escape +them all seemed to Scipio, as he said, to indicate not wisdom alone, but +equally a rare felicity of fortune. + +11. Let us then, first, if you please, consider how far the love of +friends ought to go. If Coriolanus had friends, ought they to have +helped him in fighting against his country, or should the friends of +Viscellinus [Footnote: Spurius Cassius Viscellinus, the author of the +earliest agrarian law, passed, but never carried into execution. He was +condemned to death,--probably a victim to the rancorous opposition of +the patrician order, of which he was regarded as a recreant member by +virtue of his advocacy of the rights or just claims of the _plebs_. +Cicero in early life was by no means so hostile to the principle +underlying the agrarian laws, and to the memory of the Gracchi, as he +was after he had reached the highest offices in the gift of the people.] +or those of Spurius Maelius [Footnote: Maelius, of the equestrian order, +but of a plebeian family, obtained unbounded popularity with the _plebs_ +by selling corn at a low price, and giving away large quantities of it, +in a time of famine. He was charged with seeking kingly power, and, on +account of his alleged movements with that purpose, Cincinnatus was +appointed dictator, and Maelius, resisting a summons to his tribunal, +was killed by Ahala, his master of the horse. There seems to have been +little evidence of his actual guilt.] have aided them in the endeavor to +usurp regal power? We saw, indeed, Tiberius Gracchus, when he was +disturbing the peace of the State, deserted by Quintus Tubero and others +with whom he had been on terms of intimacy. But Caius Blossius, of +Cumae, the guest, [Footnote: _Hospes,_ guest, host, or both.] Scaevola, +of your family, coming to me, when I was in conference with the Consuls +Laenas and Rupilius, to implore pardon, urged the plea that he held +Tiberius Gracchus in so dear esteem that he felt bound to do whatever he +desired. I then asked him, "Even if he had wanted you to set fire to the +Capitol, would you have done it?" He replied, "He never would have made +such a request." "But if he had?" said I. "I would have obeyed him," was +the answer. And, by Hercules, he did as he said, or even more; for he +did not so much yield obedience to the audacious schemes of Tiberius +Gracchus, as he was foremost in them; he was not so much the companion +of his madness, as its leader. Therefore, in consequence of this folly, +alarmed by the appointment of special judges for his trial, he fled to +Asia, entered the service of our enemies, and finally met the heavy and +just punishment for his disloyalty to his country. [Footnote: He took +refuge with Aristonicus, King of Pergamus, then at war with Rome; and +when Aristonicus was conquered, Blossius committed suicide for fear of +being captured by the Roman army.] + +It is, then, no excuse for wrong-doing that you do wrong for the sake of +a friend. Indeed, since it may have been a belief in your virtue that +has made one your friend, it is hard for friendship to last if you fall +away from virtue. But if we should determine either to concede to +friends whatever they may ask, or to exact from them whatever we may +desire, we and they must be endowed with perfect wisdom, in order for +our friendship to be blameless. We are speaking, however, of such +friends as we have before our eyes, or as we have seen or have known by +report,--of such as are found in common life. It is from these that we +must take our examples, especially from such of them as make the nearest +approach to perfect wisdom. We have learned from our fathers that Papus +Aemilius was very intimate with Caius Luscinus, they having twice been +consuls together, as well as colleagues in the censorship; and it is +said also that Manius Curius and Tiberius Coruncanius lived in the +closest friendship both with them and with each other. Now we cannot +suspect that either of these men would have asked of one of his friends +anything inconsistent with good faith, or with an engagement sanctioned +by oath, or with his duty to the State. Indeed, to what purpose is it to +say that among such men if one had asked anything wrong, he would not +have obtained it? For they were men of the most sacred integrity; while +to ask anything wrong of a friend and to do it when asked are alike +tokens of deep depravity. But Caius Carbo and Caius Cato were the +followers of Tiberius Gracchus, as was his brother Caius, at first with +little ardor, but now [Footnote: _Now_, that is, at the time at which +this dialogue has its assumed date, immediately after Scipio's death. At +that time Caius Gracchus was acting as a commissioner under his +brother's agrarian law.] most zealously. + +12. As to friendship, then, let this law be enacted, that we neither ask +of a friend what is wrong, nor do what is wrong at a friend's request. +The plea that it was for a friend's sake is a base apology,--one that +should never be admitted with regard to other forms of guilt, and +certainly not as to crimes against the State. We, indeed, Fannius and +Scaevola, are so situated that we ought to look far in advance for the +perils that our country may incur. Already has our public policy +deviated somewhat from the method and course of our ancestors. Tiberius +Gracchus attempted to exercise supreme power; nay, he really reigned for +a few months. What like this had the Roman people ever heard or seen +before? What, after his death, the friends and kindred who followed him +did in their revenge on Publius Scipio [Footnote: Publius Cornelius +Scipio Nasica, who took the lead of the Senate in the assassination of +Tiberius Gracchus, and incurred such popular odium that he could not +safely stay in Rome. He was sent on a fictitious mission to Asia to get +him out of the way of the people, and not daring to return, wandered +with no settled habitation till his death at Pergamum not long before +the assumed date of this dialogue.] I cannot say without tears. We put +up with Carbo [Footnote: Carbo succeeded Tiberius Gracchus on the +commission for carrying the agrarian law into execution, and was shortly +afterward chosen Tribune. He then proposed a law, permitting a tribune +to be re-elected for an indefinite number of years. This law was +vehemently opposed by Scipio Africanus the Younger, and if he was really +killed by Carbo, it was probably on account of his hostility to Carbo's +ambitious schemes.] as well as we could in consideration of the recent +punishment of Tiberius Gracchus; but I am in no mood to predict what is +to be expected from the tribuneship of Caius Gracchus. Meanwhile the +evil is creeping upon us, from its very beginning fraught with threats +of ruin. Before recent events, [Footnote: The reference undoubtedly here +is to the Papirian law which had just been passed before the assumed +date of this dialogue, having been proposed and carried through by +(Caius _Papirius_) Carbo. By this law the use of the ballot was +established in all matters of popular legislation.] you perceive how +much degeneracy was indicated in the legalization of the ballot, first +by Gabinian, [Footnote: By which magistrates were to be chosen by +ballot.] then two years later by the Cassian law. [Footnote: By which +the judges were to be chosen by ballot. With reference to the use of the +ballot the parties in Rome were prototypes of like parties in England. +The voice of the people was for the ballot, on the ground that it made +suffrage free, as it could not be when employers or patrons could +dictate to their dependents and make them suffer for failure to vote in +favor of their own candidates or measures. The aristocratic party +opposed the ballot as fatal to their controlling influence, which many +sincere patriots, like Cicero, regarded as essential to the public +safety, while patrician demagogues, intriguers, and office-seekers made +it subservient to their own selfish or partisan interests.] I seem +already to see the people utterly alienated from the Senate, and the +most important affairs determined by the will of the multitude; for more +persons will learn how these things are brought about than how they may +be resisted. To what purpose am I saying this? Because no one makes such +attempts without associates. It is therefore to be enjoined on good men +that they must not think themselves so bound that they cannot renounce +their friends when they are guilty of crimes against the State. But +punishment must be inflicted on all who are implicated in such guilt,--on +those who follow, no less than on those who lead. Who in Greece was +more renowned than Themistocles? Who had greater influence than he had? +When as commander in the Persian war he had freed Greece from bondage, +and for envy of his fame was driven into exile, he did not bear as he +ought the ill treatment of his ungrateful country. He did what +Coriolanus had done with us twenty years before. Neither of these men +found any helper against his country; [Footnote: No one of his own +fellow-countrymen.] they therefore both committed suicide. [Footnote: If +the story of Coriolanus be not a myth, as Niebuhr supposes it to be, his +suicide forms no part of the story as Livy tells it. The suicide of +Themistocles is related as a supposition, not as an established fact. If +he died of poison, as was said, it may have been administered by a rival +in the favor of Artaxerxes.] Association with depraved men for such an +end is not, then, to be shielded by the plea of friendship, but rather +to be avenged by punishment of the utmost severity, so that no one may +ever think himself authorized to follow a friend to the extent of making +war upon his country,--an extremity which, indeed, considering the +course that our public affairs have begun to take, may, for aught I +know, be reached at some future time. I speak thus because I feel no +less concern for the fortunes of the State after my death than as to its +present condition. + +13. Let this, then, be enacted as the first law of friendship, that we +demand of friends only what is right, and that we do for the sake of +friends only what is right. [Footnote: This is a virtual repetition of +the law of friendship announced at the beginning of the previous +section, and Cicero probably so intended it. He states the rule, then +demonstrates its validity, then repeats it in an almost identical form, +implying what the mathematician expresses when he puts at the end of a +demonstration _Quod èrat demonstrandum._] This understood, let us not +wait to be asked. Let there be constant assiduity and no loitering in a +friend's service. Let us also dare to give advice freely; for in +friendship the authority of friends who give good counsel may be of the +greatest value. Let admonition be administered, too, not only in plain +terms, but even with severity, if need be, and let heed be given to such +admonition. On this subject some things that appear to me strange have, +as I am told, been maintained by certain Greeks who are accounted as +philosophers, and are so skilled in sophistry that there is nothing +which they cannot seem to prove. Some of them hold that very intimate +friendships are to be avoided; that there is no need that one feel +solicitude for others; that it is enough and more than enough to take +care of your own concerns, and annoying to be involved to any +considerable extent in affairs not belonging to you; that the best way +is to have the reins of friendship as loose as possible, so that you can +tighten them or let them go at pleasure; for, according to them, ease is +the chief essential to happy living, and this the mind cannot enjoy, if +it bears, as it were, the pains of travail in behalf of a larger or +smaller circle of friends. [Footnote: This passage seems to be a +paraphrase of a passage in the _Hippolytus_ of Euripides, in which the +Nurse says: "It behooves mortals to form moderate friendships with one +another, and not to the very marrow of the soul, and the affections of +the mind should be held loosely, so that we may slacken or tighten them. +That one soul should be in travail for two is a heavy burden." Euripides +was regarded, and rightly, as no less a philosopher than a tragedian, +and was not infrequently styled [Greek: sophos]. Cicero here veils his +thorough conversance with Greek literature and philosophy, and assumes +the part of Laelius, in whose time, though Greek was not omitted in the +education of cultivated men, the study was comparatively new, and was +not carried to any great extent.] + +Others, [Footnote: The Epicureans.] I am told, with even much less of +true human feeling, teach what I touched upon briefly a little while +ago, that friendships are to be sought for defence and help, not on +account of good-will and affection. The less of self-confidence and the +less of strength one has, the more is he inclined to make friends. Thus +it is that women [Footnote: Latin, _mulierculae_, a diminutive, meaning, +however, not _little women_, but denoting the feebleness and dependence +of women in comparison with men. It must be confessed, too, that the +term is sometimes used, and perhaps here, semi-contemptuously; for the +Roman man felt an overweening pride in mere manhood.] seek the support +of friendship more than men do, the poor more than the rich, the +unfortunate more than those who seem happy. Oh, pre-eminent wisdom! It +is like taking the sun out of the world, to bereave human life of +friendship, than which the immortal gods have given man nothing better, +nothing more gladdening. What is the ease of which they speak? It is +indeed pleasing in aspect, but on many occasions it is to be renounced; +for it is not fitting, in order to avoid solicitude, either to refuse to +undertake any right cause or act, or to drop it after it is undertaken. +If we flee from care, we must flee from virtue, which of necessity with +no little care spurns and abhors its opposites, as goodness spurns and +abhors wickedness; temperance, excess; courage, cowardice. Thus you may +see that honest men are excessively grieved by the dishonest, the brave +by the pusillanimous, those who lead sober lives by the dissolute. It is +indeed characteristic of a well-ordered mind to rejoice in what is good +and to be grieved by the opposite. If then, pain of mind fall to the lot +of a wise man as it must of necessity unless we imagine his mind +divested of its humanity, why should we take friendship wholly out of +life, lest we experience some little trouble on account of it? Yet more, +if emotion be eliminated, what difference is there, I say not between a +man and a brute, but between a man and a rock, or the trunk of a tree, +or any inanimate object? Nor are those to be listened to, who regard +virtue as something hard and iron-like. [Footnote: Here, undoubtedly, +Cicero refers to the sterner type of Stoicism, which in his time was +already obsolescent, and was yielding place to the milder, while no less +rigid, ethics of which the _De Officiis_ may be regarded as the manual.] +As in many other matters, so in friendship, it is tender and flexible so +that it expands, as it were, with a friend's well being, and shrinks +when his peace is disturbed. Therefore the pain which must often be +incurred on a friend's account is not of sufficient moment to banish +friendship from human life, any more than the occasional care and +trouble which the virtues bring should be a reason for renouncing them. + +14. Since virtue attracts friendship, as I have said, if there shines +forth any manifestation of virtue with which a mind similarly disposed +can come into contact and union from such intercourse love must of +necessity spring. For what is so absurd as to be charmed with many +things that have no substantial worth, as with office, fame, +architecture, dress, and genteel appearance, but not to be in any wise +charmed by a mind endowed with virtue, and capable of either loving +or--if I may use the word--re-loving? [Footnote: Latin, _redamare_, a word +coined by Cicero, and used with the apology, _ut ita dicam_] Nothing +indeed yields a richer revenue than kind affections, nothing gives more +delight than the interchange of friendly cares and offices. Then if we +add, as we rightly may, that there is nothing which so allures and +attracts aught else to itself as the likeness of character does to +friendship it will certainly be admitted that good men love good men and +adopt them into fellowship as if united with them by kindred and by +nature. By nature I say, for nothing is more craving or greedy of its +like than nature. This, then as I think, is evident, Fannius and +Scaevola that among the good toward the good there cannot but be mutual +kind feeling and in this we have a fountain of friendship established by +nature. + +But the same kind feeling extends to the community at large. For virtue +is not unsympathetic, nor unserviceable, [Footnote: Latin, _immunis_, +literally--without office.] nor proud. It is wont even to watch over the +well-being of whole nations, and to give them the wisest counsel, which +it would not do if it had no love for the people. + +Now those who maintain that friendships are formed from motives of +utility annul, as it seems to me, the most endearing bond of friendship; +for it is not so much benefit obtained through a friend as it is the +very love of the friend that gives delight. What comes from a friend +confers pleasure, only in case it bears tokens of his interest in us, +and so far is it from the truth that friendships are cultivated from a +sense of need, that those fully endowed with wealth and resources, +especially with virtue, which is the surest safeguard, and thus in no +need of friends, are the very persons who are the most generous and +munificent. Indeed, I hardly know whether it may not be desirable that +our friends should never have need of our services. Yet in the case of +Scipio and myself, what room would there have been for the active +exercise of my zeal in his behalf, had he never needed my counsel or +help at home or in the field? In this instance, however, the service +came after the friendship, not the friendship after the service. + +15. If these things are so, men who are given up to pleasure are not to +be listened to when they express their opinions about friendship, of +which they can have no knowledge either by experience or by reflection. +For, by the faith of gods and men, who is there that would be willing to +have a superabundance of all objects of desire and to live in the utmost +fulness of wealth and what wealth can bring, on condition of neither +loving any one nor being loved by any one? This, indeed, is the life of +tyrants, in which there is no good faith, no affection, no fixed +confidence in kindly feeling, perpetual suspicion and anxiety, and no +room for friendship; for who can love either him whom he fears, or him +by whom he thinks that he is feared? Yet they receive the show of +homage, but only while the occasion for it lasts. [Footnote: Latin, _dum +taxat ad tempus_, that is, while the homage rendered is in close contact +with the occasion,--with the immunity or profit to be purchased by it.] +If they chance to fall, as they commonly have fallen, they then +ascertain how destitute of friends they have been, as Tarquin is +reported to have said that he learned what faithful and what unfaithful +friends he had, when he could no longer render back favors to those of +either class,--although I wonder whether pride and insolence like his +could have had any friends. Moreover, as his character could not have +won real friends, so is the good fortune of many who occupy foremost +places of influence so held as to preclude faithful friendships. Not +only is Fortune blind, but she generally makes those blind whom she +embraces. Thus they are almost always beside themselves under the +influence of haughtiness and waywardness; nor can there be created +anything more utterly insupportable than a fortune-favored fool. There +are to be seen those who previously behaved with propriety who are +changed by station, power, or prosperity, and who spurn their old +friendships and lavish indulgence on the new. But what is more foolish +than when men have resources, means, wealth at their fullest command, +and can obtain horses, servants, splendid raiment, costly vases, +whatever money can buy, for them not to procure friends, who are, if I +may so speak, the best and the most beautiful furniture of human life? +Other things which a man may procure know not him who procures them, nor +do they labor for his sake,--indeed, they belong to him who can make +them his by the right of superior strength. But every one has his own +firm and sure possession of his friendships, while even if those things +which seem the gifts of fortune remain, still life unadorned and +deserted by friends cannot be happy. But enough has been said on this +branch of our subject. + +16. We must now determine the limits or bounds of friendship. On this +subject I find three opinions proposed, neither of which has my +approval,--the first, that we should do for our friends just what we +would do for ourselves, the second, that our good offices to our friends +should correspond in quantity and quality to those which they perform +for us, the third, that one's friends should value him according to his +own self-estimate. I cannot give unqualified assent to either of these +opinions. The first--that one should be ready to do for his friends +precisely what he would do for himself--is inadmissible. How many things +there are that we do for our friends which we should never do on our own +account!--such as making a request even an entreaty, of a man unworthy +of respect or inveighing against some person with a degree of +bitterness, nay, in terms of vehement reproach. In fine, we are +perfectly right in doing in behalf of a friend things that in our own +case would be decidedly unbecoming. There are also many ways in which +good men detract largely from their own comfort or suffer it to be +impaired, that a friend may have the enjoyment which they sacrifice. The +second opinion is that which limits kind offices and good will by the +rule of equality. This is simply making friendship a matter of +calculation with the view of keeping a debtor and creditor account +evenly balanced. To me friendship seems more affluent and generous and +not disposed to keep strict watch lest it may give more than it receives +and to fear that a part of its due may be spilled over or suffered to +leak out or that it may heap up its own measure over full in return. +[Footnote: We have here, first, a figure drawn from pecuniary accounts, +then one from liquid measure, then one from dry measure--all designed to +affix the brand of the most petty meanness on the (so called) friendship +which makes it a point neither to leave nor to brook a preponderance of +obligation on either side.] But worst of all is the third limit which +prescribes that friends shall take a man's opinion of himself as a +measure for their estimate and treatment of him. There are some persons +who are liable to fits of depression, or who have little hope of better +fortune than the present. In such a case, it is the part of a friend, +not to hold the position toward his friend which he holds toward +himself, but to make the efficient endeavor to rouse him from his +despondency, and to lead him to better hope and a more cheerful train of +thought. It remains for me then, to establish another limit of +friendship. But first let me tell you what Scipio was wont to speak of +with the severest censure. He maintained that no utterance could have +been invented more inimical to friendship [Footnote: Latin, _inimciorem_ +(that is, _in amiciorem_) _amicitiae_.] than that of him who said that +one ought to love as if he were going at some future time to hate, nor +could he be brought to believe that this maxim came, as was reported +from Bias, who was one of the seven wise men, but he regarded it as +having proceeded from some sordid person, who was either inordinately +ambitious or desirous of bringing everything under his own control. For +how can one be a friend to him to whom he thinks that he may possibly +become an enemy? In this case one would of necessity desire and choose +that his friend should commit offences very frequently, so as to give +him, so to speak, the more numerous handles for fault-finding, and on +the other hand one would be vexed, pained, aggrieved by all the right +and fitting things that friends do. This precept then from whomsoever it +came, amounts to the annulling of friendship. The proper rule should be, +that we exercise so much caution in forming friendships, that we should +never begin to love a friend whom it is possible that we should ever +hate; but even in case we should have been unfortunate in our choice, +Scipio thought that it would be wiser to bear the disappointment when it +comes than to keep the contingency of future alienation in view. + +17. I would then define the terms of friendship by saying that where +friends are of blameless character, there may fittingly be between them +a community of all interests, plans, and purposes without any exception +even so far that, if perchance there be occasion for furthering the not +entirely right wishes of friends when life or reputation is at stake, +one may in their behalf deviate somewhat from a perfectly straight +course (1) yet not so far as to + +[1 This at first sight appears like a license to yield up moral +considerations to friendship, though the qualification, in the sequel, +"not so far as to incur absolute dishonor," and "virtue is by no means +to be sacrificed," seem saving clauses. But Cicero certainly has a +right to be his own interpreter since in the _De Officiis_ as I think, +he explains in full and in accordance with the highest moral principle, +what he means here, and we have a double right to insist on this +interpretation first, because the _De Officiis_ was written so very +little while after the _De Amicitia_, and both at so ripe an age, that a +change of opinion on important matters was improbable and secondly, +because in the later treatise he expressly refers to the former as +giving in full his views on friendship, and thus virtually sanctions +that treatise. Now in the _De Officiis_ he says A good man will do +nothing against the State, or in violation of his oath of good faith, +for the sake of his friend, not even if he were a judge in his friend's +case. . . . He will yield so far to friendship as to wish his friend's +case to be worthy of succeeding, and to accommodate him as to the time +of trial, within legal limits. But inasmuch as he must give sentence +upon his oath, he will bear it in mind that he has "God for a witness." +In another passage of the _De Officiis,_ Cicero asserts, somewhat +hesitatingly, yet on the authority of Panaetius as the strictest of +Stoics, the moral rightfulness of "defending on some occasions a guilty +man, if he be not utterly depraved and false to all human relations." As +in the passage on which I am commenting special reference is made to the +peril of life or reputation, what Cicero contends for, as it seems to +me, is the right of defending a guilty friend as advocate, or of +favoring him as to time and mode of trial as a judge. Aulius Gellius, in +connection with this passage in _De Amicitia,_ tells the following story +of Chilo, who was on some of the lists of the seven wise men. Chilo, on +the last day of his life, said that the only thing that gave him uneasy +thought, and was burdensome to his conscience, was that once when he and +two other men were judges in a case in which a friend of his was tried +for a capital crime, he, in accordance with his own conviction, voted +his friendy guilty, but so influenced the minds of his two associates +that they gave their voice for his acquittal.] + +incur absolute dishonor. There is a point up to which a concession made +to friendship is venial. But we are not bound to be careless of our own +reputation, nor ought we to regard the esteem of our fellow-citizens as +an instrument of such affairs as devolve upon us,--an esteem which it is +base to conciliate [Footnote: Latin, _colligere,_ to collect, or gather +up, one by one, the good-will of each individual citizen.] by flattery +and fawning. Virtue, which has the sincere regard of the people as its +consequence, is by no means to be sacrificed to friendship. + +But, to return to Scipio, who was all the time talking about friendship, +he often complained that men exercised greater care about all other +matters; that one could always tell how many goats and sheep he had, but +could not tell how many friends he had; and that men were careful in +selecting their beasts, but were negligent in the choice of friends, and +had nothing like marks and tokens [Footnote: Latin, _signa et notas,_ +the marks and tokens by which the quality and worth of goats and sheep +were estimated.] by which to determine the fitness of friends. + +Firm, steadfast, self-consistent men are to be chosen as friends, and of +this kind of men there is a great dearth. It is very difficult to judge +of character before we have tested it; but we can test it only after +firendship is begun. Thus friendship is prone to outrun judgment, and to +render a fair trial impossible. It is therefore the part of a wise man +to arrest the impulse of kindly feeling, as we check a carriage in its +course, that, as we use only horses that have been tried, so we may +avail ourselves of friendships in which the characters of our friends +have been somehow put to the test. Some readily show how fickle their +friendship is in paltry pecuniary matters; others, whom a slight +consideration of that kind cannot influence, betray themselves when a +large amount is involved. But if some can be found who think it mean to +prefer money to friendship, where shall we come upon those who do not +put honors, civic offices, military commands, places of power and trust, +before friendship, so that when these are offered on the one hand, and +the claims of friendship on the other, they will much rather make choice +of the objects of ambition? For nature is too feeble to despise a +commanding station, and even though it be obtained by the violation of +friendship men think that this fault will be thrown into obscurity, +because it was not without a weighty motive that they held friendship in +abeyance. Thus true friendships are rare among those who are in public +office, and concerned in the affairs of the State. For where will you +find him who prefers a friend's promotion to his own? What more shall I +say? Not to dwell longer on the influence of ambition upon friendship, +how burdensome how difficult does it seem to most men to share +misfortunes to which it is not easy to find those who are willing to +stoop. Although Ennius is right in saying + +"In unsure fortune a sure friend is seen," + +yet one of these two things convicts most persons of fickleness and +weakness,--either their despising their friends when they themselves are +prosperous, or deserting their friends in adversity. + +18 Him, then, who alike in either event shall have shown himself +unwavering, constant, firm in friendship we ought to regard as of an +exceedingly rare and almost divine order of men. + +Still further good faith is essential to the maintenance of the +stability and constancy which we demand in friendship, for nothing that +is unfaithful is stable. It is, moreover, fitting to choose for a friend +one who is frank, affable, accommodating, interested in the same things +with ourselves,--all which qualities come under the head of fidelity, +for a changeful and wily disposition cannot be faithful, nor can he who +has not like interests and a kindred nature with his friend be either +faithful or stable. I ought to add that a friend should neither take +pleasure in finding fault with his friend, nor give credit to the +charges which others may bring against him,--all which is implied in the +constancy of which I have been speaking. Thus we come back to the truth +which I announced at the beginning of our conversation, that friendship +can exist only between the good. It is, indeed, the part of a good +or--what is the same thing--a wise man [Footnote: Wisdom and goodness +were identical with the Stoics.] to adhere to these two principles in +friendship,--first, that he tolerate no feigning or dissembling (for an +ingenuous man will rather show even open hatred than hide his feeling by +his face), and, secondly, that he not only repel charges made against +his friend by others, but that he be not himself suspicious, and always +thinking that his friend has done something unfriendly. + +To these requisites there may well be added suavity of speech and +manners, which is of no little worth as giving a relish to the +intercourse of friendship. Rigidness and austerity of demeanor on every +occasion indeed carry weight with them, but friendship ought to be more +gentle and mild, and more inclined to all that is genial and affable. + +19 There occurs here a question by no means difficult,[Footnote: Latin, +_subdifficilis_ which I should render _somewhat difficult_ had not +Cicero treat that question as one that presents no difficulty. In the +ancient tongues, as in our own or even more than in our own, a word is +often better defined by its use than in the dictionary.] whether at any +time new friends worthy of our love are to be preferred to the old, as +we are wont to prefer young horses to those that have passed their +prime. Shame that there should be hesitation as to the answer! There +ought to be no satiety of friendships, as there is rightly of many other +things. The older a friendship is, the more precious should it be as is +the case with wines that will bear keeping, [Footnote: Some of the best +Italian wines will not "bear keeping," and it was probably true of more +of them in Cicero's time than now that wines are so often vitiated by +strong alcoholic mixtures in order to preserve them. Cato, in his _De Re +Rustica_, prescribes a method of determining whether the wine of any +given vintage will "keep".] and there is truth in the proverb that many +pecks of salt must be eaten together to bring friendship to perfection. +[Footnote: Aristotle quotes this as a proverbial saying, so that it must +be of very great antiquity.] If new friendships offer the hope of fruit, +like the young shoots in the grain-field that give promise of harvest, +they are not indeed to be spurned, yet the old are to be kept in their +place. There is very great power in long habit. To recur to the horse +there is no one who would not rather use the horse to which he has +become accustomed, if he is still sound, than one unbroken and new. Nor +has habit this power merely as to the movements of an animal, it +prevails no less as to inanimate objects. We are charmed with the places +though mountainous and woody, [Footnote: Therefore uninviting, for +mountain and forest had not in early time the charm which we find in +them. Indeed the love of nature uncultivated and unadorned is for the +most part, of modern growth.] where we have made a long sojourn. But +what is most remarkable in friendship is that it puts a man on an +equality with his inferior. For there often are in a circle of friends +those who excel the rest, as was the case with Scipio in our flock, if I +may use the word. He never assumed superiority over Philus, never over +Rupilius, never over Mummius, never over friends of an order lower than +his own. Indeed he always reverenced as a superior, because older than +himself, his brother Quintus Maximus [Footnote: Quintus Fabius Maximus +Aemilianus, the eldest son of Aemilius Paulus, and the adopted son of +Fabius Maximus.] a thoroughly worthy man, but by no means his equal, and +in fact he wanted to make all his friends of the more consequence by +whatever advantages he himself possessed. This example all ought to +imitate, that if they have attained any superiority of virtue, genius, +fortune, they may impart it to and share it with those with whom they +are the most closely connected; and that if they are of humble +parentage, and have kindred of slender ability or fortune, they may +increase their means of well-being, and reflect honor and worth upon +them,--as in fable those who were long in servile condition through +ignorance of their parentage and race, when they were recognized and +found to be sons either of gods or of kings, retained their love for the +shepherds whom for many years they supposed to be their fathers. Much +more ought the like to be done in the case of real and well-known +fathers; for the best fruit of genius, and virtue, and every kind of +excellence is reaped when it is thus bestowed on near kindred and +friends. + +20. Moreover, as among persons bound by ties of friendship and intimacy +those who hold the higher place ought to bring themselves down to the +same plane with their inferiors, so ought these last not to feel +aggrieved because they are surpassed in ability, or fortune, or rank by +their friends. Most of them, however, are always finding some ground of +complaint, or even of reproach, especially if they can plead any service +that they have rendered faithfully, in a friendly way, and with a +certain amount of painstaking on their part. Such men, indeed, are +hateful when they reproach their friends on the score of services which +he on whom they were bestowed ought to bear in mind, but which it is +unbecoming for him who conferred them to recount. + +Those who are superior ought, undoubtedly, not only to waive all +pretension in friendly intercourse, but to do what they can to raise +their humbler friends to their own level.(l) There are some who give +their friends trouble by imagining that they are held in low esteem, +which, however, is not apt to be the case except with those who think +meanly of themselves. Those who feel thus ought to be raised to a just +self-esteem, not only by kind words, but by substantial service. But +what you do for any one must be measured, first by your own ability, and +then by the capacity of him whom you would favor and help. For, however +great your influence may be, you cannot raise all your friends to the +highest positions. Thus Scipio could effect the election of Publius +Rupilius to the consulship; but he could not do the same for his brother +Lucius.(2) In general, friendships that are properly so called are +formed between persons of mature years and established character; nor if +young men have been fond of hunting or of ball-playing, is there any +need of permanent attachment to those whom they then liked as associates +in the same sport. On this principle our nurses and the slaves that led +us to school will demand by right of priority the highest grade + +[1 Or, as it might be rendered by supplying a _se_ "so ought the humbler +to do what they can to raise themselves." Some of the commentators +prefer this sense; but if Cicero meant _se,_ I think that he would have +written it.] + +[2 The brother of Publius Rupilius, not his own brother.] + +of affectionate regard,--persons, indeed, who are not to be neglected, +but who are on a somewhat different footing from that of friends. +Friendships formed solely from early associations cannot last; for +differences of character grow out of a diversity of pursuits, and +unlikeness of character dissolves friendships. Nor is there any reason +why good men cannot be the friends of bad men, or bad men of good, +except that the dissiliency of pursuits and of character between them is +as great as it can be. + +It is also a counsel worthy of heed, that excessive fondness be not +suffered to interfere, as it does too often, with important services +that a friend can render. To resort again to fable, Neoptolemus could +not have taken Troy [Footnote: Or rather, could not have borne the +indispensable part which it was predicted that he should bear in the +taking of Troy.] if he had chosen to comply with the wishes of Lycomedes, +who brought him up, and who with many tears attempted to dissuade him +from his expedition. Equally in actual life there are not infrequently +important occasions on which the society of friends must be for a time +abandoned; and he who would prevent this because he cannot easily bear +the separation, is of a weak and unmanly nature, and for that very +reason unfit to fill the place of a friend. In fine, in all matters you +should take into consideration both what you may reasonably demand of +your friend, and what you can fitly suffer him to obtain from you. + +21. The misfortune involved in the dissolution of friendships is +sometimes unavoidable; for I am now coming down from the intimacies of +wise men to common friendships. Faults of friends often betray +themselves openly--whether to the injury of their friends themselves, or +of strangers--in such a way that the disgrace falls back upon their +friends. Such friendships are to be effaced by the suspension of +intercourse, and, as I have heard Cato say, to be unstitched rather than +cut asunder, unless some quite intolerable offence flames out to full +view, so that it can be neither right nor honorable not to effect an +immediate separation and dissevering. But if there shall have been some +change either in character or in the habits of life, or if there have +sprung up some difference of opinion as to public affairs,--I am +speaking, as I have just said, of common friendships, not of those +between wise men,--care should be taken lest there be the appearance, +not only of friendship dropped, but of enmity taken up; for nothing is +more unbecoming than to wage war with a man with whom you have lived on +terms of intimacy. Scipio, as you know, had withdrawn from the +friendship of Quintus Pompeius [Footnote: Laelius intending to present +himself as a candidate for the consulship, Scipio asked Pompeius whether +he was going to be a candidate, and when he replied in the negative, +asked him to use his influence in behalf of Laelius. This Pompeius +promised, and then, instead of being true to his word, offered himself +for the consulship, and was elected.] on my account, he became alienated +from Metellus [Footnote: Scipio and Metellus, though their intimacy was +suspended for political reasons, held each other in the highest regard, +and no person in Rome expressed profounder sorrow than Metellus for +Scipio's death or was more warm in his praise as a man of unparalleled +ability, worth, and patriotism.] because of their different views as to +the administration of the State. In both cases he conducted himself with +gravity and dignity, and without any feeling of bitterness. The endeavor +then, must first be, to prevent discord from taking place among friends, +and if anything of the kind occurs, to see that the friendship may seem +to be extinguished rather than crushed out. Care must thus be taken lest +friendships lapse into violent enmities, whence are generated quarrels, +slanders, insults, which yet, if not utterly intolerable, are to be +endured and this honor tendered to old friendship that the blame may +rest with him who does not with him who suffers the wrong. + +The one surety and preventive against these mistakes and misfortunes is, +not to form attachments too soon, nor for those unworthy of such regard. +But it is those in whose very selves there is reason why they should be +loved, that are worthy of friendship. A rare class of men! Indeed, +superlatively excellent objects of every sort are rare, nor is anything +more difficult than to discover that which is in all respects perfect in +its kind. But most persons have acquired the habit of recognizing +nothing as good in human relations and affairs that does not produce +some revenue, and they most love those friends, as they do those cattle, +that will yield them the greatest gain. Thus they lack that most +beautiful and most natural friendship, which is to be sought in itself +and for its own sake, nor can they know from experience what and how +great is the power of such friendship. One loves himself, not in order +to exact from himself any wages for such love, but because he is in +himself dear to himself. Now, unless this same property be transferred +to friendship, a true friend will never be found, for such a friend is, +as it were, another self. But if it is seen in beasts, birds, fishes, +animals tame and wild, that they first love themselves (for self-love is +born with everything that lives) and that they then require and seek +those of their kind to whom they may attach themselves, and do so with +desire and with a certain semblance of human love, how much more is this +natural in man, who both loves himself, and craves another whose soul he +may so blend with his own as almost to make one out of two. + +22 But men in general are so perverse, not to say shameless, as to wish +a friend to be in character what they themselves could not be and they +expect of friends what they do not give them in return. The proper +course however, is for one first to be himself a good man, and then to +seek another like himself. In such persons the stability of friendship, +of which I have been speaking, can be made sure, since, united in mutual +love, they will, in the first place, hold in subjection the desires to +which others are enslaved; then they will find delight in whatever is +equitable and just, and each will take upon himself any labor or burden +in the other's stead, while neither will ever ask of the other aught +that is not honorable and right. Nor will they merely cherish and love, +they will even reverence each other. But he who bereaves friendship of +mutual respect (1) takes from it its greatest ornament. Therefore those +are in fatal error who think that in friendship there is free license +for all lusts and evil practices. Friendship is given by nature, not as +a companion of the vices, but as a helper of the virtues, that, as +solitary virtue might not be able to attain the summit of excellence, +united and associated with another it might reach that eminence. As to +those between whom there is, or has been, or shall be such an alliance, +the fellowship is to be regarded as the best and happiest possible, +inasmuch as it leads to the highest good that nature can bestow. This is +the alliance, I say, in which are included all things that men think +worthy their endeavor,--honor, fame, peace of mind, and pleasure, so +that if these be present life is happy, and cannot be happy without +them. Such a life being the best + +[1 Latin, _verecundio,_ an indefinite word; for it may have almost any +good meaning. I have rendered it _respect_, because I have no doubt that +it derives its meaning here from _verebuntur_, which I have rendered +_reverence_, in the preceding sentence.] + +and greatest boon, if we wish to make it ours, we must devote ourselves +to the cultivation of virtue, without which we can attain neither +friendship nor anything else desirable. But if virtue be left out of the +account, those who think that they have friends perceive that they are +mistaken when some important crisis compels them to put their friends to +the test. Therefore--for it is worth reiterating--you ought to love +after having exercised your judgment on your friends, instead of forming +your judgment of them after you have begun to love them. But while in +many things we are chargeable with carelessness, we are most so in +choosing and keeping our friends. We reverse the old proverb, [Footnote: +What this proverb may have been we cannot determine with precision from +its opposite; but the caution based upon it might remind one of our +proverb about shutting the barn door after the horse is stolen. The +words, _acta agimus,_ so terse that they can be translated only by a +paraphrase, are probably the converse of the proverb, which may have +been something like _non agenda sunt acta_.] take counsel after acting, +and attempt to do over again what we have done; for after having become +closely connected by long habit and even by mutual services, some +occasion of offence springs up, and we suddenly break in sunder a +friendship in full career. + +23. The more blameworthy are they who are so very careless in a matter +of so essential importance. Indeed, among things appertaining to human +life, it is friendship alone that has the unanimous voice of all men as +to its capacity of service. By many even virtue is scorned, and is said +to be a mere matter of display and ostentation. Many despise wealth, and +contented with little take pleasure in slender diet and inexpensive +living. Though some are inflamed with desire for office, many there are +who hold it in so low esteem that they can imagine nothing more inane or +worthless. Other things too, which seem to some admirable, very many +regard as of no value. But all have the same feeling as to +friendship,--alike those who devote themselves to the public service, +those who take delight in learning and philosophy, those who manage their +own affairs in a quiet way, and, lastly, those who are wholly given up to +sensual pleasure. They all agree that without friendship life cannot be, +if one only means to live in some form or measure respectably. [Footnote: +Latin _liberaliter_ that is, worthily of a free man.] For friendship +somehow twines through all lives and leaves no mode of being without its +presence. Even if one be of so rude and savage a nature as to shun and +hate the society of men, as we have learned was the case with that Timon +of Athens, [Footnote: Plutarch says that Timon had an associate, +virtually a friend, not unlike himself, Apemantus, on whom he freely +vented his spite and scorn for all the world beside and that he also +took a special liking to Alcibiades in his youth, perhaps as to one +fitted and destined to do an untold amount of mischief.] if there ever +was such a man [Footnote: Latin, _nescio, quem_, I know not whom, or of +whom I am ignorant, that is, there may or may not have been such a man.] +he yet cannot help seeking some one in whose presence he may vomit the +venom of his bitterness. The need of friendship would be best shown, +were such a thing possible, if some god should take us away from this +human crowd, and place us anywhere in solitude, giving us there an +abundant supply of all things that nature craves but depriving us +utterly of the sight of a human countenance. Who could be found of so +iron make that he could endure [Footnote: Latin, tam ... _ferreus,_ qiu +... _ferre_ posset,--an assonance which cannot be represented by +corresponding English words.] such a life, and whom solitude would not +render incapable of enjoying any kind of pleasure? That is true then +which, if I remember aright, our elders used to say that they had heard +from their seniors in age as having come from Archytas of Tarentum--"If +one had ascended to heaven and had obtained a full view of the nature of +the universe and the beauty of the stars, yet his admiration would be +without delight, if there were no one to whom he could tell what he had +seen." Thus Nature has no love for solitude, and always leans as it were, +on some support, and the sweetest support is found in the most intimate +friendship. + +24 But while Nature declares by so many tokens what she desires, craves, +needs, we--I know not how--grow deaf, and fail to hear her counsel. + +Intercourse among friends assumes many different forms and modes, and +there frequently arise causes of suspicion and offence, which it is the +part of a wise man sometimes to avoid, sometimes to remove, sometimes to +bear. One ground of offence, namely, freedom in telling the truth, must +be put entirely away, in order that friendship may retain its +serviceableness and its good faith, for friends often need to be +admonished and reproved, and such offices, when kindly performed, ought +to be received in a friendly way. Yet somehow we witness in actual life, +what my friend [Footnote: Terence with whom Laelius was so intimate that +he was reported probably on no sufficient ground to have aided in the +composition of some of the plays that bear Terence's name. This verse is +from the _Andria._] says in his play of _Andria_-- + + +"Complacency *[Footnote: _Obsequium_] wins friends, but truth gives +birth to hatred." + +Truth is offensive, if hatred, the bane of friendship is indeed born of +it, but much more offensive is complacency, when in its indulgence for +wrong doing it suffers a friend to go headlong to ruin. The greatest +blame, however, rests on him who both spurns the truth when it is told +him and is driven by the complacency of friends to self-deception. In +this matter therefore there should be the utmost discretion and care, +first, that admonition be without bitterness, then, that reproof be +without invective. But in complacency--for I am ready to use the word +which Terence furnishes--let pleasing truth be told, let flattery, the +handmaid of the vices be put far away, as unworthy, not only of a +friend, but of any man above the condition of a slave, for there is one +way of living with a tyrant, another with a friend. We may well despair +of saving him whose ears are so closed to the truth that he cannot hear +what is true from a friend. Among the many pithy sayings of Cato was +this 'There are some who owe more to their bitter enemies than to the +friends that seem sweet, for those often tell the truth, these never'. +It is indeed ridiculous for those who are admonished not to be annoyed +by what ought to trouble them, and to be annoyed by what ought to give +them no offence. Their faults give them no pain, they take it hard that +they are reproved,--while they ought, on the contrary, to be grieved for +their wrong-doing, to rejoice in their correction. + +25 As, then, it belongs to friendship both to admonish and to be +admonished, and to do the former freely, yet not harshly, to receive the +latter patiently not resentfully, so it is to be maintained that +friendship has no greater pest than adulation, flattery, subserviency, +for under its many names [Footnote: Latin _multis nominibus,_ which some +commentators render "on many accounts" with reference to matters of +purchase and sale, debit and credit. But I think that Cicero brings in +_adulatio, blanditia, and assentatio,_ as so many synonyms of +_obsequtum,_ intending to comprehend in his indictment whatever alias +the one vice may assume.] a brand should be put on this vice of fickle +and deceitful men, who say everything with the view of giving pleasure, +without any reference to the truth. While simulation is bad on every +account, inasmuch as it renders the discernment of the truth which it +defaces impossible, it is most of all inimical to friendship; for it is +fatal to sincerity, without which the name of friendship ceases to have +any meaning. For since the essence of friendship consists in this, that +one mind is, as it were, made out of several, how can this be, if in one +of the several there shall be not always one and the same mind, but a +mind varying, changeful, manifold? And what can be so flexible, so far +out of its rightful course, as the mind of him who adapts himself, not +only to the feelings and wishes, but een to the look and gesture, of +another? + + +"Does one say No or Yes? I say so too My rule is to assent to +everything," + +as Terence, whom I have just quoted, says, but he says it in the person +of Gnatho,[Footnote: A parasite in Terence's play of _Eunuchus_, from +which these verses are quoted.]--a sort of friend which only a frivolous +mind can tolerate. But as there are many like Gnatho, who stand higher +than he did in place, fortune, and reputation, then subserviency is the +more offensive, because then position gives weight to their falsehood. + +But a flattering friend may be distinguished and discriminated from a +true friend by proper care, as easily as everything disguised and +feigned is seen to differ from what is genuine and real. The assembly of +the people, though consisting of persons who have the least skill in +judgment, yet always knows the difference between him who, merely +seeking popularity, is sycophantic and fickle, and a firm inflexible, +and substantial citizen. With what soft words did Caius Papirius +[Footnote: Caius Papirius Carbo, the suspected murderer of Scipio.] +steal [Footnote: Latin _influebat_ flowed in, a figure beautifully +appropriate, but hardly translatable.] into the ears of the assembly a +little while ago, when he brought forward the law about the re-election +of the tribunes of the people! [Footnote: There was an old law, which +prohibited the re-election of a citizen to the same office till after an +interval of ten years. In the law here referred to, Carbo--then tribune +--sought to provide for the re-election of tribunes as soon and as often +as the people might choose, thus undoubtedly hoping to secure for +himself a permanent tenure of office.] I opposed the law. But, to say +nothing of myself, I will rather speak of Scipio. How great, ye immortal +gods, was his dignity of bearing! What majesty of address! So that you +might easily call him the leader of the Roman people, rather than one of +their number. But you were there, and you have copies of his speech. +Thus the law was rejected by vote of the people. But, to return to +myself, you remember, when Quintus Maximus, Scipio's brother, and Lucius +Mancinus were Consuls, how much the people seemed to favor the law of +Caius Licinius Crassus about the priests. The law proposed to transfer +the election of priests from their own respective colleges to the +suffrage of the people; [Footnote: The several pontifical colleges had +been close corporations, filling their own vacancies. The law which +Laelius defeated proposed transferring the election of priests to the +people.] and he on that occasion introduced the custom of facing the +people in addressing them [Footnote: It had been customary, when the +Senate was in session, for him who harangued the people to face the +temple where the Senate sat, thus virtually recognizing the supreme +authority of that body.] Yet under my advocacy the religion of the +immortal gods obtained the ascendancy over his plausible speech. That +was during my praetorship, five years before I was chosen Consul. Thus +the cause was gained by its own merits rather than by official +authority. + +26. But if on the stage, or--what is the same thing--in the assembly of +the people, in which there is ample scope for false and distorted +representations, the truth only needs to be made plain and clear in +order for it to prevail, what ought to be the case in friendship, which +is entirely dependent for its value on truth,--in which unless, as the +phrase is, you see an open bosom and show your own, you can have nothing +worthy of confidence, nothing of which you can feel certain, not even +the fact of your loving or being loved, since you are ignorant of what +either really is? Yet this flattery of which I have spoken, harmful as +it is, can injure only him who takes it in and is delighted with it. +Thus it is the case that he is most ready to open his ear to flattery, +who flatters himself and finds supreme delight in himself. Virtue indeed +loves itself; for it has thorough knowledge of itself, and understands +how worthy of love it is. But it is reputed, not real, virtue of which I +am now speaking; for there are not so many possessed of virtue as there +are that desire to seem virtuous. These last are delighted with +flattery, and when false statements are framed purposely to satisfy and +please them, they take the falsehood as valid testimony to their merit. +That, however, is no friendship, in which one of the (so-called) friends +does not want to hear the truth, and the other is ready to lie. The +flattery of parasites on the stage would not seem amusing, were there +not in the play braggart soldiers [Footnote: Latin, _milites gloriosi. +Miles Gloriosus_ is the title of one of the comedies of Plautus; and one +of the stock characters of the ancient comedy is a conceited, +swaggering, brainless soldier, who is perpetually boasting of his own +valor and exploits, and who takes the most fulsome and ridiculous +flattery as the due recognition of his transcendent merit. The verse +here quoted is from Terence's _Eunuchus_. Thraso, a _miles gloriosus_ +(from whom is derived our adjective _thrasonical_), asks this question +of Gnatho, the parasite, one of whose speeches is quoted in § 25. +_Magnus_ is the word in the question; _ingentes_, in the answer.] to be +flattered. + + +"Great thanks indeed did Thais render to me?" + +"Great" was a sufficient answer; but the answer in the play is +"Prodigious." The flatterer always magnifies what he whom he is aiming +to please wishes to have great. But while this smooth falsehood takes +effect only with those who themselves attract and invite it; even +persons of a more substantial and solid character need to be warned to +be on their guard, lest they be ensnared by flattery of a more cunning +type. No one who has a moderate share of common-sense fails to detect +the open flatterer; but great care must be taken lest the wily and +covert flatterer may insinuate himself; for he is not very easily +recognized, since he often assents by opposing, plays the game of +disputing in a smooth, caressing way, and at length submits, and suffers +himself to be outreasoned, so as to make him on whom he is practising +his arts appear to have had the deeper insight. But what is more +disgraceful than to be made game of? One must take heed not to put +himself in the condition of the character in the play of _The Heiress:_ +[Footnote: _Epicleros_, a comedy by Caecilius Statius, of whose works +only a few fragments, like this, are extant. Next to the braggart +soldier, a credulous old man-generally a father-who could have all +manner of tricks played upon him without detecting their import, was the +favorite butt for ridicule in the ancient comedy.] + + +"Of an old fool one never made such sport As you have made of me this +very day;" + + +for there is no character on the stage so foolish as that of these +unwary and credulous old men. But I know not how my discourse has +digressed from the friendships of perfect, that is, of wise men,--wise, +I mean, so far as wisdom can fall to the lot of man,--to friendships of +a lighter sort. Let us then return to our original subject, and bring it +to a speedy conclusion. + + +27. Virtue, I say to you, Caius Fannius, and to you, Quintus +Mucius,--virtue both forms and preserves friendships. In it is mutual +agreement; in it is stability; in it is consistency of conduct and +character. When it has put itself forth and shown its light, and has +seen and recognized the same light in another, it draws near to that +light, and receives in return what the other has to give; and from this +intercourse love, or friendship,--call it which you may,--is kindled. +These terms are equally derived in our language from loving; [Footnote: +_Amor_..._amicitia_..._ab amando_.] and to love is nothing else than to +cherish affection for him whom you love, with no felt need of his +service, with no quest of benefit to be obtained from him; while, +nevertheless, serviceableness blooms out from friendship, however little +you may have had it in view. With this affection I in my youth loved +those old men,--Lucius Paulus, Marcus Cato, Caius Gallus, Publius +Nasica, Tiberius Gracchus, the father-in-law of my friend Scipio. This +relation is more conspicuous among those of the same age, as between +myself and Scipio, Lucius Furius, Publius Rupilius, Spurius Mummius. But +in my turn, as an old man, I find repose in the attachment of young men, +as in yours, and in that of Quintus Tubero, and I am delighted with the +intimacy of Publius Rutilius and Aulus Virginius, who are just emerging +from boyhood. While the order of human life and of nature is such that +another generation must come upon the stage, it would be most desirable, +could such a thing be, to reach the goal, so to speak, with those of our +own age with whom we started on the race; but since man's life is frail +and precarious, we ought always to be in quest of some younger persons +whom we may love, and who will love us in return; for when love and +kindness cease all enjoyment is taken out of life. + +For me indeed, Scipio, though suddenly snatched away, still lives and +will always live; for I loved the virtue of the man, which is not +extinguished. Nor does it float before my eyes only, as I have always +had it at hand; it will also be renowned and illustrious with +generations to come. No one will ever enter with courage and hope on a +high and noble career, without proposing to himself as a standard the +memory and image of his virtue. Indeed, of all things which fortune or +nature ever gave me, I have nothing that I can compare with the +friendship of Scipio. In this there was a common feeling as to the +affairs of the State; in this, mutual counsel as to our private +concerns; in this, too, a repose full of delight. Never, so far as I +know, did I offend him in the least thing; never did I hear from him a +word which I would not wish to hear. We had one home; [Footnote: This +may refer to their living together on their campaigns, journeys, and +rural sojourns; but more probably to the fact that each felt as much at +home in the other's house as in his own.] the same diet, and that +simple; [Footnote: Latin, _communis_. I do not find that this word has +in Latin the sense of _cheap_ and _mean_ which our word _common_ has. +But here it cannot mean that Laelius and Scipio fed together, which is +sufficiently said in the preceding _idem victus_. It must therefore +denote such fare as was common to them with their fellow-citizens in +general, and that is simple and not luxurious fare.] we were together, +not only in military service, but also in journeying and in our rural +sojourns. And what shall I say of our unflagging zeal in the pursuit of +knowledge, and in learning everything now within our reach,--an +employment in which, when not under the eyes of the public, we passed +all our leisure time together? Had the recollection and remembrance of +these things died with him, I could not anyhow bear the loss of a man, +thus bound to me in the closest intimacy and holding me in the dearest +love. But they are not blotted out, they are rather nourished and +increased by reflection and memory; and were I entirely bereft of them, +my advanced age would still be my great comfort, for I can miss his +society but for a brief season, and all sorrows, however heavy, if they +can last but a little while, ought to be endured. + +I had these things to say to you about friendship; and I exhort you that +you so give the foremost place to virtue without which friendship cannot +be, that with the sole exception of virtue, you may think nothing to be +preferred to friendship. + + +SCIPIO'S DREAM. + + +1. When I arrived in Africa, to serve, as you know, in the office of +military Tribune of the fourth Legion, under Manius [Footnote: The +praenomen _Marcus_ is given to Manilius in the manuscript of the _De +Republics_ discovered by Angelo Mai; but Manius is the reading in all +previous authorities as to this special fragment.] Manilius as consul, I +desired nothing so much as to meet Masinissa [Footnote: King of +Numidia,--a country nearly identical in extent with the present province +of Algeria. Its name defines its people, being derived from [Greek: +nomades], _nomads._ Its inhabitants were a wild, semi-savage cluster of +tribes, black and white. Masinissa, though faithful to the Romans after +he had convinced himself that theirs must be the ascendant star, was a +crafty, treacherous, cruel prince, probably with enough of civilization +to have acquired some of its vices, while he had not lost those of the +savage.] the king, who for sufficient reasons [Footnote: The elder +Africanus had confirmed him in the possession of his own Numidia, and +had added to it the adjoining kingdom of Cirta.] stood in the most +friendly relation to our family. When I came to him, the old man +embraced me with tears, and shortly afterward looked up to heaven and +said: "I thank thee, sovereign Sun, [Footnote: The Numidians worshipped +the heavenly bodies.] and all of you lesser lights of heaven, that +before I pass away from this life I behold in my kingdom and beneath +this roof Publius Cornelius Scipio, whose very name renews my strength, +so utterly inseparable from my thought is the memory of that best and +most invincible of men who first bore it." Then I questioned him about +his kingdom, and he asked me about our republic; and with the many +things that we had to communicate to each other, the day wore away. + +At a later hour, after an entertainment of royal magnificence, we +prolonged our conversation far into the night, while the old man talked +to me about nothing else but Africanus, rehearsing not only all that he +had done, but all that he had said. When we parted to go to our rest, +sleep took a stronger hold on me than usual, on account both of the +fatigue of my journey and of the lateness of the hour. In my sleep, I +suppose in consequence of our conversation (for generally our thoughts +and utterances by day have in our sleep an effect like that which Ennius +describes in his own case as to Homer, [Footnote: The first verse of the +_Annales_ of Ennius was:-- + +"In somnis mihi visus Homerus adesse poeta."] + +about whom in his waking hours he was perpetually thinking and talking), +Africanus appeared to me, with an aspect that reminded me more of his +bust than of his real face. I shuddered when I saw him. But he said: +"Preserve your presence of mind, Scipio; be not afraid, and commit to +memory what I shall say to you. + +2. "Do you see that city, which was brought through me into subjection +to the Roman people, but now renews its old hostility, and cannot remain +quiet,"--and he showed me Carthage from a high place full of stars, +shining and splendid,--"against which you, being little more than a +common soldier, are coming to fight? In two years from now you as Consul +will overthrow this city, and you will obtain of your own right the +surname which up to this time you hold as inherited from me. When you +shall have destroyed Carthage, shall have celebrated your triumph over +it, shall have been Censor, and shall have traversed, as an ambassador, +Egypt, Syria, Asia, and Greece, you will be chosen a second time Consul +in your absence, and will put an end to one of the greatest of wars by +extirpating Numantia. But when you shall be borne to the Capitol in your +triumphal chariot after this war, you will find the State disturbed by +the machinations of my grandson. [Footnote: Tiberius Gracchus, whose +mother, Cornelia, was the daughter of the elder Africanus.] + +"In this emergency, Africanus, it will behoove you to show your country +the light of your energy, genius, and wisdom. But I see at that time, as +it were, a double way of destiny. For when your age shall have followed +the sun for eight times seven revolutions, and these two numbers +[Footnote: The Pythagoreans regarded seven as the number representing +light, and eight as representing love. Seven was also a perfect number, +as corresponding to the number of celestial orbits (including the sun, +the moon, and the five known planets), the number of days in the quarter +of the moon's revolution, and the number of the gates of sense (so to +speak), mouth, eyes, ears, and nostrils. Eight was a perfect number, as +being first after unity on the list of cubes; and Plato in the _Timaeus_ +speaks of eight celestial revolutions--including that of the earth--as +unequal in duration and velocity, but as forming, in some unexplained +way, a cycle synchronous with the year.]--each perfect, though for +different reasons--shall have completed for you in the course of nature +the destined period, to you alone and to your name the whole city will +turn; on you the Senate will look, on you all good citizens, on you the +allies, on you the Latini. You will be the one man on whom the safety of +the city will rest; and, to say no more, you, as Dictator, must +re-establish the State, if you escape the impious hands of your kindred." +[Footnote: See _De Amicitia_ § 3, note.] Here, when Laelius had cried +out, and the rest of the company had breathed deep sighs, Scipio, +smiling pleasantly upon them, said, "I beg you not to rouse me from +sleep and break up my vision. Hear the remainder of it." + +3. "But that you, Africanus, may be the more prompt in the defence of +the State, know that for all who shall have preserved, succored, +enlarged their country, there is a certain and determined place in +heaven where they enjoy eternal happiness; for to the Supreme God who +governs this whole universe nothing is more pleasing than those +companies and unions of men that are called cities. Of these the rulers +and preservers, going hence, return hither." + +Here I, although I had been alarmed, not indeed so much by the fear of +death as by that of the treachery of my own kindred, yet asked whether +Paulus, my father, and others whom we supposed to be dead were living. +"Yes, indeed," he replied, "those who have fled from the bonds of the +body, like runners from the goal, live; while what is called your life +is death. But do you see your father Paulus coming to you?" When I saw +him, I shed a flood of tears; but he, embracing and kissing me, forbade +my weeping. + +Then as soon as my tears would suffer me to speak, I began by saying, +"Most sacred and excellent father, since this is life, as Africanus +tells me, why do I remain on the earth, and not rather hasten to come to +you?" "Not so," said he; "for unless the God who has for his temple all +that you now behold, shall have freed you from this prison of the body, +there can be no entrance for you hither. Men have indeed been brought +into being on this condition, that they should guard the globe which you +see in the midst of this temple, which is called the earth; and a soul +has been given to them from those eternal fires which you call +constellations and stars, which, globed and round, animated with +god-derived minds, complete their courses and move through their orbits +with amazing speed. You, therefore, Publius, and all rightly disposed men +are bound to retain the soul in the body's keeping, nor without the +command of him who gave it to you to depart from the life appointed for +man, lest you may seem to have taken flight from human duty as assigned +by God. But, Scipio, like this your grandfather, [Footnote: By adoption. +The younger Africanus was adopted by a son of the elder.] like me, your +father, cherish justice and that sacred observance of duty to your kind, +which, while of great worth toward parents and family, is of supreme +value toward your country. Such a life is the way to heaven, and to this +assembly of those who have already lived, and, released from the body, +inhabit the place which you now see,"--it was that circle that shines +forth among the stars in the most dazzling white,--"which you have +learned from the Greeks to call the Milky Way." And as I looked on every +side I saw other things transcendently glorious and wonderful. There +were stars which we never see from here below, and all the stars were +vast far beyond what we have ever imagined. The least of them was that +which, farthest from heaven, nearest to the earth, shone with a borrowed +light. But the starry globes very far surpassed the earth in magnitude. +The earth itself indeed looked to me so small as to make me ashamed of +our empire, which was a mere point on its surface. + +4. While I was gazing more intently on the earth, Africanus said: "How +long, I pray you, will your mind be fastened on the ground? Do you not +see into the midst of what temples you have come? In your sight are nine +orbs, or rather globes, by which all things are held together. One is +the celestial, the outermost, embracing all the rest,--the Supreme God +himself, [Footnote: Here crops out the Pantheism--the non-detachment or +semi-detachment of God from nature--which casts a penumbra around +monotheism and the approaches to it, almost always, except under Hebrew +and Christian auspices.] who governs and keeps in their places the other +spheres. In this are fixed those stars which ever roll in an unchanging +course. Beneath this are seven spheres which have a retrograde movement, +opposite to that of the heavens. One of these is the domain of the star +which on earth they call Saturn. Next is the luminary which bears the +name of Jupiter, of prosperous and healthful omen to the human race; +then, the star of fiery red which you call Mars, and which men regard +with terror. Beneath, the Sun holds nearly the midway space, [Footnote: +The middle, as the fifth of the nine spheres, enclosed by four; and +enclosing four.] leader, prince, and ruler of the other lights, the mind +and regulating power of the universe, so vast as to illuminate and flood +all things with his light. Him, as his companions, Venus and Mercury +follow on their different courses; and in a sphere still lower the moon +revolves, lighted by the rays of the sun. Beneath this there is nothing +that is not mortal and perishable, except the souls bestowed upon the +human race by the gift of the gods. Above the moon all things are +eternal. The earth, which is the central and ninth sphere, has no +motion, and is the lowest [Footnote: The lowest because central, and +therefore farthest from the outermost or celestial sphere.] of all, and +all heavy bodies gravitate spontaneously toward it." + +5. When I had recovered from my amazement at these things I asked, "What +is this sound so strong and so sweet that fills my ears?" "This," he +replied, "is the melody which, at intervals unequal, yet differing in +exact proportions, is made by the impulse and motion of the spheres +themselves, which, softening shriller by deeper tones, produce a +diversity of regular harmonies. Nor can such vast movements be urged on +in silence; and by the order of nature the shriller notes sound from one +extreme of the universe, the deeper from the other. Thus yonder supreme +celestial sphere with its clustered stars, as it revolves more rapidly, +moves with a shrill and quick strain; this lower sphere of the moon +sends forth deeper notes; while the earth, the ninth sphere, remaining +motionless, [Footnote: Therefore without sound.] always stands fixed in +the lowest place, occupying the centre of the universe. But these eight +revolutions, of which two, those of Mercury and Venus, are in unison, +make seven distinct tones, with measured intervals between, and almost +all things are arranged in sevens. [Footnote: Latin, _qui numerus_ (that +is, _septem_) _rerum omnium fere nodus est_. Literally, "which number is +the knot of almost everything." The more intelligible form in which I +have rendered these words seems to me to convey their true meaning, and +my belief to that effect is confirmed by reading what several +commentators say about the passage.] Skilled men, copying this harmony +with strings and voice, have opened for themselves a way back to this +place, as have others who with excelling genius have cultivated divine +sciences in human life. But the ears of men are deafened by being filled +with this melody; nor is there in you mortals a duller sense than that +of hearing. As where the Nile at the Falls of Catadupa pours down from +the loftiest mountains, the people who live hard by lack the sense of +hearing because of the loudness of the cataract, so this harmony of the +whole universe in its intensely rapid movement is so loud that men's +ears cannot take it in, even as you cannot look directly at the sun, and +the keenness and visual power of the eye are overwhelmed by its rays." +While I marvelled at these things, I ever and anon cast my eyes again +upon the earth. + +6. Then Africanus said: "I perceive that you are now fixing your eyes on +the abode and home of men, and if it seems to you small, as it really +is, then look always at these heavenly things, and despise those +earthly. For what reputation from the speech of men, or what fame worth +seeking, can you obtain? You see that the inhabited places of the earth +are scattered and of small extent, that in the spots [Footnote: Latin, +_maculis_,--a figure so bold in Cicero's time as to need an apology for +its use, but now employed with no consciousness of its being otherwise +than strictly literal.]--so to speak--where men dwell there are vast +solitary tracts interposed, and that those who live on the earth are not +only so separated that no communication can pass from place to place, +but stand, in part at an oblique angle, in part at a right angle with +you, in part even in an opposite direction; [Footnote: It hardly needs +to be said, that the reference here is to the convex surface of the +earth, on which those remote from one another may hold all the various +angles to each other that are borne by the spokes of a wheel.] and from +these you certainly can anticipate no fame. + +"You perceive also that this same earth is girded and surrounded by +belts, two of which--the farthest from each other, and each resting at +one extremity on the very pole of the heavens--you see entirely +frost-bound; while the middle and largest of them burns under the sun's +intensest heat. Two of them are habitable, of which the southern, whose +inhabitants are your antipodes, bears no relation to your people; and +see how small a part they occupy in this other northern zone, in which +you dwell. For all of the earth with which you have any concern--narrow +at the north and south, broader in its central portion--is a mere little +island, surrounded by that sea which you on earth call the Atlantic, the +Great Sea, the Ocean, while yet, with such a name, you see how small it +is. To speak only of these cultivated and well-known regions, could your +name even cross this Caucasus which you have in view, or swim beyond +that Ganges? Who, in what other lands may lie in the extreme east or +west, or under northern or southern skies, will ever hear your name? All +these cut off, you surely see within what narrow bounds your fame can +seek to spread. Then, too, as regards the very persons who tell of your +renown, how long will they speak of it? + +7. "But even if successive generations should desire to transmit the +praise of every one of us from father to son in unbroken succession, yet +because of devastations by flood and fire, which will of necessity take +place at a determined time, we must fail of attaining not only eternal +fame, but even that of very long duration. Now of what concern is it +that those who shall be born hereafter should speak of you, when you +were spoken of by none who were born before you, who were not fewer, and +certainly were better men?--especially, too, when among those who might +hear our names there is not one that can retain the memories of a single +year. Men, indeed, ordinarily measure the year only by the return of the +sun, that is, one star, to its place; but when all the stars, after long +intervals, shall resume their original places in the heavens, then that +completed revolution may be truly called a year. As of old the sun +seemed to be eclipsed and blotted out when the soul of Romulus entered +these temples, so when the sun shall be again eclipsed in the same part +of his course, and at the same period of the year and day, with all the +constellations and stars recalled to the point from which they started +on their revolutions, then count the year as brought to a close. +[Footnote: The Stoics maintained that the visible universe would last +through such a cycle as is here described, which in their conjectural +astronomy comprehended many thousands of years, and then would be +consumed by fire, or somehow be reduced to chaos, and a new universe +take its place.] But be assured that the twentieth part of this year has +not yet come round. + +"Therefore, should you renounce the hope of returning to this place in +which are all things that great and excellent men can desire, of what +worth is that human glory which can scarcely extend to a small part of a +single year? If, then, you shall determine to look high up, and to +behold continuously this dwelling and eternal home, you will neither +give yourself to the flattery of the people, nor place your hope of +well-being on rewards that man can bestow. Let Virtue herself by her own +charms draw you to true honor. What others may say of you, regard as +their concern, not yours. They will doubtless talk about you, but all +that they say is confined within the narrow limits of the regions which +you now see; nor did such speech as to any one ever last on into +eternity,--it is buried with those who die, and lost in oblivion for +those who may come afterward." + +8. When he had spoken thus, I said, "O Africanus, if indeed for those +who have deserved well of their country there is, as it were, an open +road by which they may enter heaven, though from boyhood treading in my +father's steps and yours, I have done no discredit to your fame, I yet +shall now strive to that end with a more watchful diligence." And he +replied: "Strive [Footnote: Or, you will strive indeed.] indeed, and +bear this in mind, that it is not you that are mortal, but your body +only. Nor is it you whom this outward form makes manifest; but every +man's mind is he,--not the bodily shape which can be pointed at by the +finger. Know also that you are a god, if he indeed is a god who lives, +who perceives, who remembers, who foresees, who governs and restrains +and moves the body over which he is made ruler even as the Supreme God +holds the universe under his sway; and in truth as the eternal God +himself moves the universe which is mortal in every part, so does the +everlasting soul move the corruptible body. + +"That, indeed, which is in perpetual movement is eternal; but that +which, while imparting motion to some other substance, derives its own +movement from some other source, must of necessity cease to live when it +ceases to move. Then that alone which is the cause of its own motion, +because it is never deserted by itself, never has its movement +suspended. But for other substances that are moved this is the source, +the first cause, [Footnote: Latin, _principium_.] of movement. But the +first cause has no origin; for all things spring from the first cause: +itself, from nothing. That indeed would not be a first cause which +derived its beginning from anything else; and if it has no beginning, it +never ceases to be. For the first cause, if extinct, will neither itself +be born again from aught else, nor will it create aught else from +itself, if indeed all things must of necessity originate from the first +cause. Thus it is that the first cause of motion is derived from that +which is in its nature self-moving; but this can neither be born nor +die. Were it to die, the whole heaven would of necessity collapse, and +all nature would stand still, nor could it find any force which could be +set in movement anew from a primitive impulse. [Footnote: From a first +cause; the first cause, by hypothesis, having ceased to be.] + +9. "Since, then, that which is the source of its own movement is +manifestly eternal, who is there that can deny that this nature has been +given to the soul? For whatever is moved by external impulse is +soulless; [Footnote: Latin, _inanimum._] but whatever has a soul +[Footnote: Latin, _animal._ My renderings of _inanimum_ and _animal_ +here, if not justified by any parallel instances (and I know not whether +they are), are required by the obvious meaning of the sentence.] is +stirred to action by movement inward and its own; for this is the +peculiar nature and virtue of the soul. Moreover, if it is this alone of +all things that is the source of its own movement, it certainly did not +begin to be, and is eternal. "This soul I bid you to exercise in the +best pursuits, and the best are your cares for your country's safety, by +which if your soul be kept in constant action and exercise, it will have +the more rapid flight to this its abode and home. This end it will +attain the more readily, if, while it shall be shut up in the body, it +shall peer forth, and, contemplating those things that are beyond, +abstract itself as far as possible from the body. For the souls of those +who have surrendered themselves to the pleasures of the body, have +yielded themselves to their service, and, obeying them under the impulse +of sensual lusts, have transgressed the laws of gods and men, when they +pass out of their bodies are tossed to and fro around the earth, nor +return to this place till they have wandered in banishment for many +ages." + +He departed; I awoke from sleep. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream, by +Marcus Tullius Ciceronis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DE AMICITIA, SCIPIO'S DREAM *** + +***** This file should be named 7491-8.txt or 7491-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/4/9/7491/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Charles Franks and the Distributed +Proofreaders Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive +specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this +eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook +for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, +performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given +away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks +not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the +trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the +Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country outside the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work +on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and + most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no + restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it + under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this + eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the + United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you + are located before using this ebook. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format +other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain +Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +provided that + +* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation." + +* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm + works. + +* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The +Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the +mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its +volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous +locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt +Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to +date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and +official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/7491-8.zip b/7491-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b67331 --- /dev/null +++ b/7491-8.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b34a876 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #7491 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7491) diff --git a/old/7amsc10.txt b/old/7amsc10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..010b031 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7amsc10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2863 @@ +Project Gutenberg's De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream, by Marcus Tullius Ciceronis + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream + +Author: Marcus Tullius Ciceronis + +Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7491] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 10, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DE AMICITIA, SCIPIO'S DREAM *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Charles Franks +& the Distributed Proofreaders Team + + + + +[Illustration: MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO] + +De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream + +By Cicero + + +Translated, with an Introduction and Notes + +By Andrew P. Peabody + + + +SYNOPSIS. + +* * * * * + +DE AMICITIA + +1. Introduction. + +2. Reputation of Laelius for wisdom. The curiosity to know how he bore +the death of Scipio. + +3. His grounds of consolation in his bereavement + +4. He expresses his faith in immortality. Desires perpetual memory in +this world of the friendship between himself and Scipio. + +5. True friendship can exist only among good men. + +6. Friendship defined. + +7. Benefits derived from friendship. + +8. Friendship founded not on need, but on nature. + +9. The relation of utility to friendship. + +10. Causes for the separation of friends. + +11. How far love for friends may go. + +12. Wrong never to be done at a friend's request. + +13. Theories that degrade friendship + +14. How friendships are formed. + +15. Friendlessness wretched. + +16. The limits of friendship. + +17. In what sense and to what degree friends are united. How friends are +to be chosen and tested. + +18. The qualities to be sought in a friend. + +19. Old friends not to be forsaken for new. + +20. The duties of friendship between persons differing in ability, rank, +or position. + +21. How friendships should be dissolved, and how to guard against the +necessity of dissolving them. + +22. Unreasonable expectations of friends. Mutual respect necessary in +true friendship. + +23. Friendship necessary for all men. + +24. Truth-telling, though it often gives offence, an essential duty from +friend to friend. + +25. The power of truth. The arts of flattery. + +26. Flattery availing only with the feeble-minded. + +27. Virtue the soul of friendship. Laelius describes the intimacy of the +friendship between himself and Scipio. + + +* * * * * + + +SCIPIO'S DREAM. + +1. Scipio's visit to Masinissa. Circumstances under which the dream +occurred. + +2. Appearance of the elder Africanus, and of his own father, to Scipio. +Prophecy of Scipio's successes and honors, with an intimation of his +death by the hands of his kindred. + +3. Conditions on which heaven may be won. + +4. The nine spheres that constitute the universe. + +5. The music of the spheres. + +6. The five zones of the earth. + +7. Brevity and worthlessness of earthly fame. + +8. All souls eternal. + +9. The soul to be trained for immortality. The fate of those who merge +their souls in sense. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +DE AMICITIA. + +The _De Amicitia_, inscribed, like the _De Senectute_, to Atticus, was +probably written early in the year 44 B.C., during Cicero's retirement, +after the death of Julius Caesar and before the conflict with Antony. +The subject had been a favorite one with Greek philosophers, from whom +Cicero always borrowed largely, or rather, whose materials he made +fairly his own by the skill, richness, and beauty of his elaboration, +Some passages of this treatise were evidently suggested by Plato; and +Aulus Gellius says that Cicero made no little use of a now lost essay of +Theophrastus on Friendship. + +In this work I am especially impressed by Cicero's dramatic power. But +for the mediocrity of his poetic genius, he might have won pre-eminent +honor from the Muse of Tragedy. He here so thoroughly enters into the +feelings of Laelius with reference to Scipio's death, that as we read we +forget that it is not Laelius himself who is speaking. We find ourselves +in close sympathy with him, as if he were telling us the story of his +bereavement, giving utterance to his manly fortitude and resignation and +portraying his friend's virtues from the unfading image phototyped on +his own loving memory. In other matters too Cicero goes back to the time +of Laelius and assumes his point of view assigning to him just the +degree of foresight which he probably possessed and making not the +slightest reference to the very different aspect in which he himself had +learned to regard and was wont to represent the personages and events of +that earlier period. Thus while Cicero traced the downfall of the +republic to changes in the body politic that had taken place or were +imminent and inevitable when Scipio died he makes Laelius perceive only +a slight though threatening deflection from what had been in the earlier +time [Footnote 1]. So too though Cicero was annoyed more than by almost +any other characteristic of his age by the prevalence of the Epicurean +philosophy and ascribed to it in a very large degree the demoralization +of men in public life with Laelius the doctrines of this school are +represented as they must have been in fact as new and unfamiliar. In +time Laelius is here made to say not a word which he being the man that +he was and at the date assumed for this dialogue might not have said +himself; and it may be doubted whether a report of one of his actual +conversations would have seemed more truly genuine. + +This is a rare gift often sought indeed yet sought in vain not only by +dramatists who have very [Footnote 1 _Deflexit jam aliquantul im_] +seldom attained it but by authors of a very great diversity of type and +culture. One who undertakes to personate a character belonging to an age +not his own hardly ever fails of manifest anachronisms. The author finds +it utterly impossible to fit the antique mask so closely as not now and +then to show through its chinks his own more modern features, while this +form of internal evidence never fails to betray an intended forgery +however skilfully wrought. On the other hand there is no surer proof of +the genuineness ot a work purporting to be of an earlier but alleged to +be of a later origin than the absence of all tokens of a time subsequent +to the earliest date claimed for it. [Footnote: Thus among the many +proofs of the genuineness of our canonical Gospels perhaps none is more +conclusive than the fact that though evidently written by unskilled men +they contain not a trace or token of certain opinions known to have been +rife even before the close of the first Christian century; while the (so +called) apocryphal Gospels bear, throughout, such vestiges of their +later origin as would neutralize the strongest testimony imaginable in +behalf of their primitive antiquity.] + +In connection with this work it should be borne in mind that the special +duties of friendship constituted an essential department of ethics in +the ancient world and that the relation of friend to friend was regarded +as on the same plane with that of brother to brother. No treatise on +morals would have been thought complete had this subject been omitted. +Not a few modern writers have attempted the formal treatment of +friendship but while the relation of kindred minds and souls has lost +none of its sacredness and value, the establishment of a code of rules +for it ignores on the one hand the spontaneity of this relation, and on +the other hand, its entire amenableness to the laws and principles that +should restrict and govern all human intercourse and conduct. + +Shaftesbury, in his 'Characteristics,' in his exquisite vein of irony +sneers at Christianity for taking no cognizance of friendship either in +its precepts or in its promises. Jeremy Taylor, however, speaks of this +feature of Christianity as among the manifest tokens of its divine +origin, and Soame Jenyns takes the same ground in a treatise expressly +designed to meet the objections and cavils of Shaftesbury and other +deistical writers of his time. These authors are all in the right and +all in the wrong, as to the matter of fact. There is no reason why +Christianity should prescribe friendship which is a privilege, not a +duty, or should essay to regulate it, for its only ethical rule of +strict obligation is the negative rule which would lay out for it a +track that shall never interfere with any positive duty selfward, +manward or Godward. But in the life of the Founder of Christianity, who +teaches, most of all, by example, friendship has its apogee,--its +supreme pre-eminence and honor. He treats his apostles and speaks of and +to them, not as mere disciples but as intimate and dearly beloved +friends, among these there are three with whom he stands in peculiarly +near relations, and one of the three was singled out by him in dying for +the most sacred charge that he left on the earth, while at the same time +that disciple shows in his Gospel that he had obtained an inside view so +to speak, of his Master's spiritual life and of the profounder sense of +his teachings which is distinguished by contrast rather than by +comparison from the more superficial narratives of the other +evangelists. + +But Christianity has done even more than this for friendship. It has +superseded its name by fulfilling its offices to a degree of perfectness +which had never entered into the ante-Christian mind. Man shrinks from +solitude. He feels inadequate to bear the burdens, meet the trials, and +wage the conflicts of this mortal life, alone. Orestes always needed and +craved a Pylades, but often failed to find one. This inevitable +yearning, when it met no human response found still less to satisfy it +in the objects of worship. Its gods, though in great part deified men, +could not be relied on for sympathy, support or help. The stronger +spirits did not believe in them, the feebler looked upon them only with +awe and dread. But Christianity, in its anthropomorphism, which is its +strongest hold on faith and trust, insures for the individual man in a +Divine Humanity precisely what friends might essay to do yet could do +but imperfectly for him. It proffers the tender sympathy and helpfulness +of Him who bears the griefs and carries the sorrows of each and all; +while the near view that it presents of the life beyond death inspires +the sense of unbroken union with friends in heaven, and of the fellow- +feeling of "a cloud of witnesses" beside. Thus while friendship in +ordinary life is never to be spurned when it may be had without +sacrifice of principle, it is less a necessity than when man's relations +with the unseen world gave no promise of strength, aid, or comfort. + +Experience has deepened my conviction that what is called a free +translation is the only fit rendering of Latin into English; that is, +the only way of giving to the English reader the actual sense of the +Latin writer. This last has been my endeavor. The comparison is, indeed, +exaggerated; but it often seems to me, in unrolling a compact Latin +sentence, as if I were writing out in words the meaning of an algebraic +formula. A single word often requires three or four as its English +equivalent. Yet the language is not made obscure by compression. On the +contrary, there is no other language in which it is so hard to bury +thought or to conceal its absence by superfluous verbiage. + +I have used Beier's edition of the _De Amicitia_, adhering to it in the +very few cases in which other good editions have a different reading. +There are no instances in which the various readings involve any +considerable diversity of meaning. + +LAELIUS. + +Caius Laelius Sapiens, the son of Caius Laelius, who was the life-long +friend of Scipio Africanus the Elder, was born B.C. 186, a little +earlier in the same year with his friend Africanus the Younger. He was +not undistinguished as a military commander, as was proved by his +successful campaign against Viriathus, the Lusitanian chieftain, who had +long held the Roman armies at bay, and had repeatedly gained signal +advantages over them. He was known in the State, at first as leaning, +though moderately and guardedly, to the popular side, but after the +disturbances created by the Gracchi, as a strong conservative. He was a +learned and accomplished man, was an elegant writer,--though while the +Latin tongue retained no little of its archaic rudeness,--and was +possessed of some reputation as an orator. Though bearing his part in +public affairs, holding at intervals the offices of Tribune, Praetor, +and Consul, and in his latter years attending with exemplary fidelity to +such duties as belonged to him as a member of the college of Augurs, he +yet loved retirement, and cultivated, so far as he was able, studious +and contemplative habits. He was noted for his wise economy of time. To +an idle man who said to him, "I have sixty years" [_Sexaginta annos +habeo._] (that is, I am sixty years old), he replied, "Do you mean the +sixty years which you have not?" His private life was worthy of all +praise for the virtues that enriched and adorned it; and its memory was +so fresh after the lapse of more than two centuries, that Seneca, who +well knew the better way which he had not always strength to tread, +advises his young friend Lucilius to "live with Laelius;" [_Vire cum +Laelio._] that is, to take his life as a model. + +The friendship of Laelius and the younger Scipio Africanus well deserves +the commemoration which it has in this dialogue of Cicero. It began in +their boyhood, and continued without interruption till Scipio's death. +Laelius served in Africa, mainly that he might not be separated from his +friend. To each other's home was as his own. They were of one mind as to +public men and measures, and in all probability the more pliant nature +of Laelius yielded in great measure to the stern and uncompromising +adherence of Scipio to the cause of the aristocracy. While they were +united in grave pursuits and weighty interests, we have the most +charming pictures of their rural and seaside life together, even of +their gathering shells on the shore, and of fireside frolics in which +they forgot the cares of the republic, ceased to be stately old Romans, +and played like children in vacation-time. + +FANNIUS. + +Caius Fannius Strabo in early life served with high reputation in +Africa, under the younger Africanus, and afterward in Spain, in the war +with Viriathus. Like his father-in-law, he was versed in the philosophy +of the Stoic school, under the tuition of Panaetius. He was an orator, +as were almost all the Romans who aimed at distinction; but we have no +reason to suppose that he in this respect rose above mediocrity. He +wrote a history, of which Cicero speaks well, and which Sallust commends +for its accuracy; but it is entirely lost, and we have no direct +information even as to the ground which it covered. It seems probable, +however, that it was a history either of the third of the Punic wars, or +of all of them; for Plutarch quotes from him--probably from his History +--the statement that he, Fannius, and Tiberius Gracchus were the first to +mount the walls of Carthage whent he city was taken. + +SCAEVOLA. + +Quintus Mucius Scaevola filled successively most of the important +offices of the State, and was for many years, and until death, a member +of the college of Augurs. He was eminent for his legal learning, and to +a late and infirm old age was still consulted in questions of law, never +refusing to receive clients at any moment after daylight. But while he +was regarded as foremost among the jurists of his time, he professed +himself less thoroughly versed in the laws relating to mortgages than +two of his coevals, to whom he was wont to send those who brought cases +of this class for his opinion or advice. He was remarkable for early +rising, constant industry, and undeviating punctuality,--at the meetings +of the Senate being always the first on the ground. + +No man held a higher reputation than Scaevola for rigid and scrupulous +integrity. It is related of him that when as a witness in court he had +given testimony full, clear, strong, and of the most damnatory character +against the person on trial, he protested against the conviction of the +defendant on his testimony, if not corroborated, on the principle, held +sacred in the Jewish law, that it would be a dangerous precedent to +suffer the issue of any case to depend on the intelligence and veracity +of a single witness. When, after Marius had been driven from the city, +Sulla asked the Senate to declare him by their vote a public enemy, +Scaevola stood in a minority of one; and when Sulla urged him to give +his vote in the affirmative, his reply was: "Although you show me the +military guard with which you have surrounded the Senate-house, although +you threaten me with death, yon will never induce me, for the little +blood still in an old man's veins, to pronounce Marius--who has been the +preserver of the city and of Italy--an enemy." + +His daughter married Lucius Licinius Crassus, who had such reverence tor +his father-in-law, that, when a candidate for the consulship, he could +not persuade himself in the presence of Scaevola to cringe to the +people, or to adopt any of the usual self-humiliating methods of +canvassing for the popular vote. + + + + + + +SCIPIO'S DREAM. + +PALIMPSESTS[Footnote: _Rubbed again_,--the parchment, or papyrus, having +been first polished for use, and then rubbed as clean as possible, to be +used a second time.]--the name and the thing--are at least as old as +Cicero. In one of his letters he banters his friend Trebatius for +writing to him on a palimpsest,[Footnote: _In palimpsesto_.] and marvels +what there could have been on the parchment which he wanted to erase. +This was a device probably resorted to in that age only in the way in +which rigid economists of our day sometimes utilize envelopes and +handbills. But in the dark ages, when classical literature was under a +cloud and a ban, and when the scanty demand for writing materials made +the supply both scanty and precarious, such manuscripts of profane +authors as fell into the hands of ecclesiastical copyists were not +unusually employed for transcribing the works of the Christian Fathers +or the lives of saints. In such cases the erasion was so clumsily +performed as often to leave distinct traces of the previous letters. The +possibility of recovering lost writings from these palimpsests was first +suggested by Montfaucon in the seventeenth century; but the earliest +successful experiment of the kind was made by Bruns, a German scholar, +in the latter part of the eighteenth, century. The most distinguished +laborer in this field has been Angelo Mai, who commenced his work in +1814 on manuscripts in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, of which he was +then custodian. Transferred to the Vatican Library at Rome, he +discovered there, in 1821, a considerable portion of Cicero's _De +Republica_, which had been obliterated, and replaced by Saint +Augustine's Commentary on the Psalms. This latter being removed by +appropriate chemical applications, large portions of the original +writing remained legible, and were promptly given to the public. + +This treatise Cicero evidently considered, and not without reason, as +his master-work. It was written in the prime of his mental vigor, in the +fifty-fourth year of his age, after ample experience in the affairs of +State, and while he still hoped, more than he feared for the future of +Rome. His object was to discuss in detail the principles and forms of +civil government, to define the grounds of preference for a republic +like that of Rome in its best days, and to describe the duties and +responsibilities of a good citizen, whether in public office or in +private life. He regarded this treatise, in its ethics, as his own +directory in the government of his province of Cilicia, and as binding +him, by the law of self-consistency, to unswerving uprightness and +faithfulness, He refers to these six books on the Republic as so many +hostages [Footnote: _Praedibus_.] for his uncorrupt integrity and +untarnished honor, and makes them his apology to Atticus for declining +to urge an extortionate demand on the city of Salamis. + +The work is in the form of Dialogues, in which, with several +interlocutors beside, the younger Africanus and Laelius are the chief +speakers; and it is characterized by the same traits of dramatic genius +to which I have referred in connection with the _De Amicitia_. + +The _De Republica_ was probably under interdict during the reigns of the +Augustan dynasty; men did not dare to copy it, or to have it known that +they possessed it; and when it might have safely reappeared, the +republic had faded even from regretful memory, and there was no desire +to perpetuate a work devoted to its service and honor. Thus the world +had lost the very one of all Cicero's writings for which he most craved +immortality. The portions of it which Mai has brought to light fully +confirm Cicero's own estimate of its value, and feed the earnest--it is +to be feared the vain--desire for the recovery of the entire work. + +Scipio's Dream, which, is nearly all that remains of the Sixth Book of +the _De Republica_, had survived during the interval for which the rest +of the treatise was lost to the world. Macrobius, a grammarian of the +fifth century, made it the text of a commentary of little present +interest or value, but much prized and read in the Middle Ages. The +Dream, independently of the commentary, has in more recent times passed +through unnumbered editions, sometimes by itself, sometimes with +Cicero's ethical writings, sometimes with the other fragments of the _De +Republica_. + +In the closing Dialogue of the _De Republica_ the younger Africanus +says: "Although to the wise the consciousness of noble deeds is a most +ample reward of virtue, yet this divine virtue craves, not indeed +statues that need lead to hold them to their pedestals, nor yet triumphs +graced by withering laurels, but rewards of firmer structure and more +enduring green." "What are these?" says Laelius. Scipio replies by +telling his dream. The time of the vision was near the beginning of the +Third Punic War, when Scipio, no longer in his early youth, was just +entering upon the career in which he gained pre-eminent fame, +thenceforward to know neither shadow nor decline. + +* * * * * + +I have used for Scipio's Dream, Creuzer and Moser's edition of the _De +Republica_. + + +CICERO DE AMICITIA + +* * * * * + +1 Quintus Mucius, the Augur, used to repeat from memory, and in the most +pleasant way, many of the sayings of his father-in-law Caius Laelius, +never hesitating to apply to him in all that he said his surname of The +Wise. When I first put on the robe of manhood [Footnote: In the earliest +time a boy put on the _toga virilis_ when he had completed his sixteenth +year, in Cicero's time pupilage ceased a year earlier and by Justinin's +code the period at which it legally ceased was the commencement of the +fifteenth year. The Scaevola to whom Cicero was thus taken was Quintus +Mucius (Scaevola) the Augur, already named.] my father took me to +Scaevola and so commended me to his kind offices, that thenceforward, so +far as was possible and fitting I kept my place at the old man's side. +[Footnote: It was customary for youth in training for honorable +positions in the State to attach themselves especially to men of +established character and reputation, to attend them to public places, +and to remain near them whenever anything w"as to be learned from their +conversation, their legal opinions, their public harangues, or their +pleas before the courts. Distinguished citizens deemed themselves +honored by a retinue of such attendants. Cicero, in the _De Officiis_, +says that a young man may best commend himself to the early esteem and +confidence of the community by such an intimacy.] I thus laid up in my +memory many of his elaborate discussions of important subjects, as well +as many of his utterances that had both brevity and point, and my +endeavor was to grow more learned by his wisdom. After his death I stood +in a similar relation to the high-priest Scaevola, [Footnote: As Cicero +says, the most eloquent of jurists, and the most learned jurist among +the eloquent. He was at the same time pre-eminent for moral purity and +integrity. It was he, who, as Cicero (_De Officiis_, iii. 15) relates, +insisted on paying for an estate that he bought a much larger sum than +was asked for it, because its price had been fixed far below its actual +value.] whom I venture to call the foremost man of our city both in +ability and in uprightness. But of him I will speak elsewhere. I return +to the Augur. While I recall many similar occasions, I remember in +particular that at a certain time when I and a few of his more intimate +associates were sitting with him in the semicircular apartment +[Footnote: Latin, _hemicyclio,_ perhaps, a semicircular seat.] in his +house where he was wont to receive his friends, the conversation turned +on a subject about which almost every one was then talking, and which +you, Atticus, certainly recollect, as you were much in the society of +Publius Sulpicius; namely, the intense hatred with which Sulpicius, when +Tribune of the people, opposed Quintus Pompeius, then Consul, [Footnote: +The quarrel arose from the zelous espousal of the Marian faction by +Sulpicius, who resorted to arms, in order to effect the incorporation of +the new citizens from without the city among the previously existing +tribes. Hence a series of tumults and conflicts, in one of which a son +of Pompeius lost his life.] with whom he had lived in the closest and +most loving union,--a subject of general surprise and regret. Having +incidentally mentioned this affair, Scaevola proceeded to give us the +substance of a conversation on friendship, which Laelius had with him +and his other son-in-law, Caius Fannius, the son of Marcus, a few days +after the death of Africanus. I committed to memory the sentiments +expressed in that discussion, and I bring them out in the book which I +now send you. I have put them into the form of a dialogue, to avoid the +too frequent repetition of "said I" and "says he," and that the +discussion may seem as if it were held in the hearing of those who read +it. While you, indeed, have often urged me to write something about +friendship, the subject seems to me one of universal interest, and at +the same time specially appropriate to our intimacy. I have therefore +been very ready to seek the profit of many by complying with your +request. But as in the _Cato Major_, the work on Old Age inscribed to +you, I introduced the old man Cato as leading the discussion, because +there seemed to be no other person better fitted to talk about old age +than one who had been an aged man so long, and in his age had been so +exceptionally vigorous, so, as we had heard from our fathers of the +peculiarly memorable intimacy of Caius Laelius and Publius Scipio, it +appeared appropriate to put into the mouth of Laelius what Scaevola +remembered as having been said by him when friendship was the subject in +on the authority of men of an earlier generation, and illustrious in +their time, seems somehow to be of specially commanding influence on the +reader's mind. Thus, as I read my own book on Old Age, I am sometimes so +affected that I feel as if not I, but Cato, were talking. But as I then +wrote as an old man to an old man about old age, so in this book I write +as the most loving of friends to a friend about friendship. [Footnote: +In the Latin we have here two remarkable series of assonances, +rhythmical to the ear, and though translatable in sense not so in +euphony. "Ut tum _senex_ ad _senem_ de _senectute,_ sic hoc libro ad +_amicum amicissimus_, de _amicitia_ scripsi."] Then Cato was the chief +speaker, than whom there was in his time scarcely any one older, and no +one his superior in intellect, now Laelius shall hold the first place, +both as a wise man (for so he was regarded), and as excelling in all +that can do honor to friendship. I want you for the while to turn your +mind away from me, and to imagine that it is Laelius who is speaking. +Caius Fannius and Quintus Mucius come to their father-in-law after the +death of Africanus. They commence the conversation, Laelius answers +them. In reading all that he says about friendship, you will recognize +the picture of your own friendship for me. + +2 FANNIUS It is as you say, [Footnote: The reference is to what Laelius +is supposed to have said already. The dialogue, as given here, is made +to commence in the midst of a conversation.] Laelius, for there never +was a better man, or one more justly renowned, than Africanus, But you +ought to bear it in mind that the eyes of all are turned upon you at +this time, for they both call you and think you wise. This distinction +has been latterly given to Cato, and you know that in the days of our +fathers Lucius Atilius [Footnote: The first Roman known to have borne +the surname of Sapiens He was one of the earliest of the juriconsults +who took pupils.] was in like manner surnamed The Wise, but both of them +were so called for other reasons than those which have given you this +name,--Atilius, for his reputation as an adept in municipal law, Cato, +for the versatility of his endowments for there were reported to his +honor many measures wisely planned and vigorously carried through in the +Senate, and many cases skilfully defended in the courts, so that in his +old age The Wise was generally applied to him as a surname. But you are +regarded as wise on somewhat different grounds, not only for your +disposition and your moral worth, but also for your knowledge and +learning, and not in the estimation of the common people, but in that of +men of advanced culture, you are deemed wise in a sense in which there +is reason to suppose that in Greece--where those who look into these +things most discriminatingly do not reckon the seven who bear the name +as on the list of wise men--no one was so regarded except the man in +Athens whom the oracle of Apollo designated as the wisest of +men.[Footnote: Socrates.] In fine, you are thought to be wise in this +sense, that you regard all that appertains to your happiness as within +your own soul, and consider the calamities to which man is liable as of +no consequence in comparison with virtue. I am therefore asked, and so, +I believe, is Scaevola, who is now with us, how you bear the death of +Africanus; and the question is put to us the more eagerly, because on +the fifth day of the mouth next following, [Footnote: Latin, _proxumis +nonis_. The _nones_, the ninth day before the _ides_, fell on the fifth +of the month, except in March. May, July, and October, when the _ides_ +were two days later. We have elsewhere intimation that the Augurs held +a meeting for business on the _nones_ of each month.] when we met, as +usual, in the garden of Decimus Brutus the Augur, to discuss our +official business, you were absent, though it was your habit always on +that day to give your most careful attendance to the duties of your +office. + +SCAEVOLA. As Fannius says, Caius Laelius, many have asked me this +question. But I answered in accordance with what I have seen, that you +were bearing with due moderation your sorrow for the death of this your +most intimate friend, though you, with your kindly nature, could not +fail to be moved by it; but that your absence from the monthly meeting +of the Augurs was due to illness, not to grief. + +LAELIUS. You were in the right, Scaevola, and spoke the truth; for it +was not fitting, had I been in good health, for me to be detained by my +own sad feeling from this duty, which I have never failed to discharge; +nor do I think that a man of firm mind can be so affected by any +calamity as to neglect his duty. It is, indeed, friendly in you, +Fannius, to tell me that better things are said of me than I feel worthy +of or desire to have said; but it seems to me that you underrate Cato. +For either there never was a wise man (and so I am inclined to think), +or if there has been such a man, Cato deserves the name. To omit other +things, how nobly did he bear his son's death! I remembered Paulus, +[Footnote: Paulus Aemilius, who lost two sons, one a few days before, +the other shortly after, the triumph decreed to him for the conquest of +the Macedonian King Perseus.] I had seen Gallus,[Footnote: Gaius +Sulpicius Gallus, mentioned as an astronomer by Cicero, _De Officiis_, +i. 6, and _De Senectute_, 14.] in their bereavements. But they lost +boys; Cato, a man in his prime and respected by all.[Footnote: The +younger Cato had won fame as a soldier and distinguished eminence as a +jurist. At the time of his death he was praetor elect.] Beware how you +place in higher esteem than Cato even the man whom Apollo, as you say, +pronounced superlatively wise; for it is the deeds of Cato, the sayings +of Socrates, that are held in honor. Thus far in reply to Fannius. As +regards myself, I will now answer both of you. + +3. Were I to deny that I feel the loss of Scipio, while I leave it to +those who profess themselves wise in such matters to say whether I ought +to feel it, I certainly should be uttering a falsehood. I do indeed feel +my bereavement of such a friend as I do not expect ever to have again, +and as I am sure I never had beside. But I need no comfort from without, +I console myself, and, chief of all, I find comfort in my freedom from +the apprehension that oppresses most men when their friends die, for I +do not think that any evil has befallen Scipio. If evil has befallen, it +is to me. But to be severely afflicted by one's own misfortunes is the +token of self-love, not of friendship. As for him, indeed who can deny +that the issue has been to his pre-eminent glory? Unless he had wished-- +what never entered into his mind--an endless life on earth what was +there within human desire that did not accrue to the man who in his very +earliest youth by his incredible ability and prowess surpassed the +highest expectations that all had formed of his boyhood, who never +sought the consulship, yet was made consul twice, the first time before +the legal age,[Footnote: He left the army in Africa B.C. 147 for home to +offer himself as a candidate for the aedileship, for which he had just +reached the legal age of thirty seven; but such accounts of his ability +efficiency, and courage had preceded him and followed him from the army, +that he was chosen Consul, virtually by popular acclamation.] the second +time in due season as to himself, but almost too late for his +country,[Footnote: The war in Spain had been continued for several +years, with frequent disaster and disgrace to the Roman army, when +Scipio, B.C. 134, was chosen Consul with a special view to this war, +which he closed by the capture and destruction of Numantia, inconnection +with which, it must he confessed, his record is rather that of a +relentless and sanguinary enemy than of a generous and placable +antagonist.] who by the overthrow of two cities implacably hostile to +the Roman empire put a period, not only to the wars that were but to +wars that else must have been? What shall I say of the singular +affability of his manners, of his filial piety to his mother, [Footnote: +He was the son of Paulus Aemilius, and the adopted son of Publius +Cornelius Scipio Africanus. His mother, divorced for no assignable +reason, was left very poor, and her son, on the death of the widow of +his adopting father, gave her the entire patrimony that came into his +possession.] of his generosity to his sisters, [Footnote: After his +mother's death, law and custom authorized him to resume what he had +given her, but he bestowed it on his sisters, thus affording them the +means of living comfortably and respectably.] of his integrity in his +relations with all men? How dear he was to the community was shown by +the grief at his funeral. What benefit, then, could he have derived from +a few more years? For, although old age be not burdensome,--as I +remember that Cato, the year before he died, maintained in a +conversation with me and Scipio, [Footnote: The _De Senectute_]--it yet +impairs the fresh vigor which Scipio had not begun to lose. Thus his +life was such that nothing either in fortune or in fame could be added +to it, while the suddenness of his death must have taken away the pain +of dying. Of the mode of his death it is hard to speak with certainty, +you are aware what suspicions are abroad. [Footnote: He retired to his +sleeping apartment apparently in perfect health, and was found dead on +his couch in the morning,--as was rumored, with marks of violence on his +neck. His wife was Sempronia, the sister of the Gracchi whose agrarian +schemes he had vehemently opposed. She was suspected of having at least +given admission to the assassin, and even her mother, the Cornelia who +has been regarded as unparelleled among Roman women for the virutes +appertaining to a wife and mother, did not escape the charge of +complicity. Her son Caius was also among those suspected, but the more +probable opinion is that Papirius Carbo was alone answerable for the +crime. Carbo had been Scipio's most bitter enemy and had endeavoured to +inflame the people against him as their enemy.] But this may be said +with truth that of the many days of surpassing fame and happiness which +Publius Scipio saw in his lifetime, the most glorious was the day before +his death when on the adjournment of the Senate he was escorted home by +the Conscript Fathers, the Roman people, the men of Latium and the +allies, [Footnote): Scipio had at that session of the senate proposed a +measure in the utmost degree offensive to Caius Gracchus and his party. +The law of Tiberius Gracchus would have disposed, at the hands of the +commissioners appointed under it, of large tracts of land belonging to +the Italian allies. Scipio's plan provided that such lands should be +taken out of the jurisdiction of the commissioners, and that matters +relating to them should be adjudged by a different board to be specially +appointed--a measure which would have been a virtual abrogation of the +agrarian law. On this account he had his honorable escort home, and on +this account, in all probability, he was mudered.]--so that from so +high a grade of honor he seems to have passed on into the assembly of +the gods rather than to have gone down into the underworld. + +4 For I am far from agreeing with those who have of late promulgated the +opinion that the soul perishes with the body and that death blots out +the whole being. [Footnote: The reference here is of course to the +Epicurians. This school of philosophy had grown very rapidly, and +numbered many disciples when this essay was written; but in the time of +Laelius it had but recently invaded Rome, and Amafanius, who must have +been his contemporary, was the earliest Roman writer who expounded its +doctrine] I on the other hand attach superior value to the authority of +the ancients whether that of our ancestors who established religious +rites for the dead which they certainly would not have done if they had +thought the dead wholly unconcerned in such observances [Footnote: This +is sound reasoning as these rites were annually renewed and consisted in +great part of the invocation of ancestors--a custom which could not have +originated if those ancestors were supposed to be utterly dead. This +passage may remind the reader of the answer of Jesus Christ to the +Sadducees, who denied that the Pentateuch contained any intimation of +immortality. He quotes the passage in which God is represented as +saying, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of +Jacob," and adds, "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living," +implying that ancestors whom the writer of that record supposed to be +dead could not have been thus mentioned.] or thatof the former Greek +colonists in this country who by their schools and teaching made +Southern Italy [Footnote: Latin _Magna Graecia_-the name given to the +cluster of Greek colonies that were scattered thick along the shore of +Southern Italy. At Croton in Magna Graecia Pythagoras established his +school and the colonies were the chief seat and seminary of his +philosophy which taught the immortality of the soul.]--now in its +decline, then flourishing--a seat of learning, or that of him whom the +oracle of Apollo pronounced the wisest of men who said not one thing +to-day, another to-morrow, as many do, but the same thing always, +maintaining that the souls of men are divine, and that when they go out +from the body, the return to heaven is open to them, and direct and easy +in proportion to their integrity and excellence. This was also the +opinion of Scipio, who seemed prescient of the event so near, when, a +very short time before his death, he discoursed for three successive +days about the republic in the presence of Philus, Manilius, and several +others,--you, Scaevola, having gone with me to the conferences,--and +near the close of the discussion he told us what he said that he had +heard from Africanus in a vision during sleep. [Footnote: The _De +Republica_ consists of dialogues on three successive days in Scipio's +garden, and Scipio is the chief speaker. The work was supposed to be +irrecoverably lost, with the exception of this Dream of Scipio and a few +fragments, but considerable portions of it were discovered in a +palimpsest in 1822. The Dream of Scipio will be found in the latter part +of this volume.] If it is true that the soul of every man of surpassing +excellence takes flight, as it were, from the custody and bondage of the +body, to whom can we imagine the way to the gods more easy than to +Scipio? I therefore fear to mourn for this his departure, lest in such +grief there be more of envy than of friendship. But if truth incline to +the opinion that soul and body have the same end, and that there is no +remaining consciousness, then, as there is nothing good in death, there +certainly is nothing of evil For if consciousness be lost, the case is +the same with Scipio as if he had never been born, though that he was +born I have so ample reason to rejoice, and this city will be glad so +long as it shall stand Thus in either event, with him, as I have said, +all has issued well, though with great discomfort for me, who more +fittingly, as I entered into life before him ought to have left it +before him. But I so enjoy the memory of our friendship, that I seem to +have owed the happiness of my life to my having lived with Scipio, with +whom I was united in the care of public interests and of private +affairs, who was my companion at home and served by my side in the army +[Footnote: Laelus went with Scipio on the campaign which resulted in the +destruction of Carthage.] and with whom--and therein lies the special +virtue of friendship--I was in perfect harmony of purpose, taste, and +sentiment. Thus I am now not so much delighted by the reputation for +wisdom of which Fannius has just spoken, especially as I do not deserve +it, as by the hope that our friendship will live in eternal remembrance, +and this I have the more at heart because from all ages scarce three or +four pairs of friends are on record, [Footnote: Those referred to +probably Theseus and Peirithous, Achilles and Patroclus, Orestes and +Pylades, Damon and Phintius,--all but the last, perhaps the last also, +mythical] on which list I cannot but hope that the friendship of Scipio +and Laelius will be known to posterity. + +FANNIUS. It cannot fail, Laelius, to be as you desire. But since you +have made mention of friendship, and we are at leisure, you will confer +on me a very great favor, and, I trust, on Scaevola too, if, as you are +wont to do on other subjects when your opinion is asked, you will +discourse to us on friendship, and tell us what you think about it, in +what estimation you hold it, and what rules you would give for it. + +SCAEVOLA. This will indeed be very gratifying to me, and had not Fannius +anticipated me, I was about to make the same request. You thus will +bestow a great kindness on both of us. + +5. LAELIUS. I certainly would not hesitate, if I had confidence in my +own powers; for the subject is one of the highest importance, and, as +Fannius says, we are at leisure. It is the custom of philosophers, +especially among the Greeks, to have subjects assigned to them, which +they discuss even without premeditation. [Footnote: This was the boast +and pride of the Greek sophists.] This is a great accomplishment, and +requires no small amount of exercise. I therefore think that you ought +to seek the treatment of friendship by those who profess this art. I can +only advise you to prefer friendship to all things else within human +attainment, insomuch as nothing beside is so well fitted to nature,--so +well adapted to our needs whether in prosperous or in adverse +circumstances. But I consider this as a first principle--that friendship +can exist only between good men. In thus saying, I would not be so rigid +in definition [Footnote: Latin. _Neque ut ad ilium reseco_, literally, +nor in this matter do I cut to the quick.] as those who establish +specially subtle distinctions, [Footnote: The Stoics of the more rigid +type, who maintained that the wise man alone is good, but denied that +the truly wise man had yet made his appearance on the earth.] with +literal truth it may be, but with little benefit to the common mind; for +they will not admit that any man who is not wise is a good man. This may +indeed be true. But they understand by wisdom a state which no mortal +has yet attained; while we ought to look at those qualities which are to +be found in actual exercise and in common life, not at those which exist +only in fancy or in aspiration. Caius Fabricius, Manius Curius, Tiberius +Coruncanius, wise as they were in the judgment of our fathers, I will +consent not to call wise by the standard of these philosophers. Let them +keep for themselves the name of wisdom, which is invidious and of +doubtful meaning, if they will only admit that these may have been good +men. But they will not grant even this; they insist on denying the name +of good to any but the wise. I therefore adopt the standard of common +sense. [Footnote: Latin _agamus igitur piagui (ut aiunt) Minerva_, that +is with a less refined, a grosser wisdom more nearly conformed to the +sound, if somewhat crass, common-sensFe of the majority.] Those who +integrity, equity, and kindness win approval, who are entirely free from +avarice, lust and the infirmities of a hasty temper, and in whom there +is perfect consistency of character, in fine men like those whom I have +named while they are regarded as good, ought to be so called, because to +the utmost of human capacity they follow Nature who is the best guide in +living well. Indeed, it seems to me thoroughly evident that there should +be a certain measure of fellowship among all, but more intimate the +nearer we approach one another. Thus this feeling has more power between +fellow-citizens than toward foreigners, between kindred than between +those of different families. Toward our kindred, Nature herself produces +a certain kind of friendship. But this lacks strength, and indeed +friendship in its full sense, has precedence of kinship in this +particular, that good-will may be taken away from kinship, not from +friendship, for when good will is removed, friendship loses its name, +while that of kinship remains. How great is the force of friendship we +may best understand from this,--that out of the boundless society of the +human race which Nature has constituted, the sense of fellowship is so +contracted and narrowed that the whole power of loving is bestowed on +the union of two or a very few friends. + +6 Friendship is nothing else than entire fellow feeling as to all things +human and divine with mutual good-will and affection; [1] and I doubt +whether anything better than this, wisdom alone excepted, has been given +to, man by the immortal gods Some prefer riches to it, some, sound +health, some, power, some, posts of honor, many, even sensual +gratification. This last properly belongs to beasts, the others are +precarious and uncertain, dependent not on our own choice so much as on +the caprice of Fortune. Those, indeed, who regard virtue as the supreme +good are entirely in the right, but it is virtue itself that produces +and sustains friendship, not without virtue can friendship by any +possibility exist. In saying this, however I would interpret virtue in +accordance with our habits of speech and of life, not defining it, as +some philosophers do, by high-sounding words, but numbering on the list +of good men those who are commonly so regarded,--the Pauli, the Catos, +the Galli, the Scipios, the Phili Mankind in general [1 It may be +doubted whether this close conformity of opinion and feeling is +essential, or even favorable to friendship. The amicable comparison and +collision of thought and sentiment are certainly consistent with, and +often conducive to the most friendly intimacy Friends are not +infrequently the complements, rather than the likeness, of each other +Cicero and Atticus were as close friends as Scipio and Laelius; but they +were at many points exceedingly unlike. Atticus had the tact and skill +in worldly matters, which Cicero lacked. Atticus kept aloof from public +affairs while Cicero was unhappy whenever he could not imagine himself +as taking a leading part in them. Atticus was an Epicurran, and Cicero +never lost an opportunity of attacking the Epicurean philosophy.] are +content with these. Let us then leave out of the account such good men +as are nowhere to be found. Among such good men as there really are, +friendship has more advantages than I can easily name. In the first, +place, as Ennius says;-- + +"How can life be worth living, if devoid Of the calm trust reposed by +friend in friend? What sweeter joy than in the kindred soul, Whose +converse differs not from self-communion?" + +How could you have full enjoyment of prosperity, unless with one whose +pleasure in it was equal to your own? Nor would it be easy to bear +adversity, unless with the sympathy of one on whom it rested more +heavily than on your own soul. Then, too, other objects of desire are, +in general, adapted, each to some specific purpose,--wealth, that you +may use it; power, that you may receive the homage of those around you; +posts of honor, that you may obtain reputation; sensual gratification, +that you may live in pleasure; health, that you may be free from pain, +and may have full exercise of your bodily powers and faculties. But +friendship combines the largest number of utilities. Wherever you turn, +it is at hand. No place shuts it out. It is never unseasonable, never +annoying. Thus, as the proverb says, "You cannot put water or fire to +more uses than friendship serves." I am not now speaking of the common +and moderate type of friendship, which yet yields both pleasure and +profit, but, of true and perfect friendship, like that which existed in +the few instances that are held in special remembrance. Such friendship +at once enhances the lustre of prosperity, and by dividing and sharing +adversity lessens its burden. + +7. Moreover, while friendship comprises the greatest number and variety +of beneficent offices, it certainly has this special prerogative, that +it lights up a good hope for the time to come, and thus preserves the +minds that it sustains from imbecility or prostration in misfortune. For +he, indeed, who looks into the face of a friend beholds, as it were, a +copy of himself. Thus the absent are present, and the poor are rich, and +the weak are strong, and--what seems stranger still [Footnote: +Literally, _what is harder to say_.]--the dead are alive, such is the +honor, the enduring remembrance, the longing love, with which the dying +are followed by the living; so that the death of the dying seems happy, +the life of the living full of praise. [Footnote: The sense of this +sentence is somewhat overlaid by the rhetoric; yet it undoubtedly means +that an absent friend is esteemed and honored in the person of the +friend who not only loves him, but is regarded as representing him; that +a poor friend enjoys the prosperity of his rich friend as if it were his +own; that a weak friend feels his feebleness energized by the friend who +in need will fight his battles for him; and that no man is suffered to +lapse from the kind and reverent remembrances of those who see his +likeness in the friend who keeps his memory green.] But if from the +condition of human life you were to exclude all kindly union, no house, +no city, could stand, nor, indeed, could the tillage of the field +survive. If it is not perfectly understood what virtue there is in +friendship and concord, it may be learned from dissension and discord. +For what house is so stable, what state so firm, that it cannot be +utterly overturned by hatred and strife? Hence it may be ascertained how +much good there is in friendship. It is said that a certain philosopher +of Agrigentum [Footnote: Empedocles. Only a few fragments of his great +poem are extant. His theory seems like a poetical version of Newton's +law of universal gravitation. The analogy between physical attraction +and the mutual attraction of congenial minds and souls has its record in +the French word _aimant_, denoting _loadstone_ or _magnet_.] sang in +Greek verse that it is friendship that draws together and discord that +parts all things which subsist in harmony, and which have their various +movements in nature and in the whole universe. The worth and power of +friendship, too, all mortals understand, and attest by their approval in +actual instances. Thus, if there comes into conspicuous notice an +occasion on which a friend incurs or shares the perils of his friend, +who can fail to extol the deed with the highest praise? What shouts +filled the whole theatre at the performance of the new play of my guest +[Footnote: Or _host_; for the word _hospes_ may have either meaning. It +denotes not the fact of giving or receiving hospitality, but the +permanent and sacred relation established between host and guest. This +relation has lost much of its character in modern civilization, and I +doubt whether it has a name in any modern European language.] and friend +Marcus Pacuvius, when--the king not knowing which of the two was +Orestes--Pylades said that he was Orestes, while Orestes persisted in +asserting that he was, as in fact he was, Orestes! [Footnote: Among the +many and conflicting legends about Orestes is that which seems to have +been the theme of the lost tragedy of Pacuvius. Orestes, after avenging +on his mother and her paramour the murder of his father, in order to +expiate the guilt of matricide, was directed by the Delphian oracle to +go to Tauris, and to steal and transport to Athens an image of Artemis +that had fallen from heaven. His friend Pylades accompanied him on this +expedition. They were seized by Thoas the king, and Orestes, as the +principal offender, was to be sacrificed to Artemis. His sister, +Iphigeneia, priestess of Artemis, contrived their escape, and the three +arrived safe at Athens with the sacred image.] The whole assembly rose +in applause at this mere fictitious representation. What may we suppose +that they would have done, had the same thing occurred in real life? In +that case Nature herself displayed her power, when men recognized that +as rightly done by another, which they would not have had the courage to +do themselves. Thus far, to the utmost of my ability as it seems to me, +I have given you my sentiments concerning friendship. If there is more +to be said, as I think that there is, endeavor to obtain it, if you see +fit, of those who are wont to discuss such subjects. + +FANNIUS. But we would rather have it from you. Although I have often +consulted those philosophers also, and have listened to them not +unwillingly, yet the thread of your discourse differs somewhat from that +of theirs. + +SCAEVOLA. You would say so all the more, Fannius, had you been present +in Scipio's garden at that discussion about the republic, and heard what +an advocate of justice he showed himself in answer to the elaborate +speech of Philus. [Footnote: Carneades, when on an embassy to Rome, for +the entertainment of his Roman hosts, on one day delivered a discourse +in behalf of justice as the true policy for the State, and on the next +day delivered an equally subtile and eloquent discourse maintaining the +opposite thesis. In the third Book of the _De Republica_ Philus is made +the "devil's advocate," and has assigned to him the championship of what +we are wont to call a Machiavelian policy, and, in general, of the +morally wrong as the politically right. He is represented astaking the +part reluctantly, saying that one consents to soil his hands in order to +find gold, and he professes to give the substance of the famous +discourse of Carneades. Laelius answers him, and, so far as we can +judge from the fragments of his reply that are extant, with the +preponderance of reason, which Cicero intended should incline on the +better side. There was perhaps a sublatent irony in making Philus play +this part; for he was an eminently upright man. Valerius Maximus +eulogizes him for his rigid integrity and impartiality, and relates that +when at the expiration of his consulship he was sent to take command of +the army against Numantia, he chose for his lieutenants Metellus and +Pompeius, both his intensely bitter enemies, but the men best fitted for +the service.] + +FANNIUS. It was indeed easy for the man pre-eminently just to defend +justice. + +SCAEVOLA. As to friendship, then, is not its defence easy for him who +has won the highest celebrity on the ground of friendship maintained +with pre-eminent faithfulness, consistency, and probity? + +8. LAELIUS. This is, indeed, the employing of force; for what matters +the way in which you compel me? You at any rate do compel me; for it is +both hard and unfair not to comply with the wishes of one's sons-in-law, +especially in a case that merits favorable consideration. + +In reflecting, then, very frequently on friendship, the foremost +question that is wont to present itself is, whether friendship is craved +on account of conscious infirmity and need, so that in bestowing and +receiving the kind offices that belong to it each may have that done for +him by the other which he is least able to do for himself, reciprocating +services in like manner; or whether, though this relation of mutual +benefit is the property, of friendship it has yet another cause; more +sacred and more noble, and derived more genuinely from the very nature +of man. Love, which in our language gives name to friendship, [Footnote: +_Amor,--amicitia._] bears a chief part in unions of mutual benefit; for +a revenue of service is levied even on those who are cherished in +pretended friendship, and are treated with regard from interested +motives. But in friendship there is nothing feigned, nothing pretended, +and whatever there is in it is both genuine and spontaneous. Friendship, +therefore, springs from nature rather than from need,--from an +inclination of the mind with a certain consciousness of love rather than +from calculation of the benefit to be derived from it. Its real quality +may be discerned even in some classes of animals, which up to a certain +time so love their offspring, and are so loved by them, that the mutual +feeling is plainly seen,--a feeling which is much more clearly manifest +in man, first, in the affection which exists between children and +parents, and which can he dissolved only by atrocious guilt; and in the +next place, in the springing up of a like feeling of love, when we find +some one of manners and character congenial with our own, who becomes +dear to us because we seem to see in him an illustrious example of +probity and virtue For there is nothing more lovable than virtue,-- +nothing which more surely wins affectionate regard, insomuch that on the +score of virtue and probity we love even those whom we have never seen. +Who is there that does not recall the memory of Caius Fabricius, of +Manius Curius, of Tiberius Coruncanras, whom he never saw, with some +good measure of kindly feeling? On the other hand, who is there that can +fail to hate Tarquinius Superbus, Spurius Cassius, Spurius Maelius? Our +dominion in Italy was at stake in wars under two commanders, Pyrrhus and +Hannibal. On account of the good faith of the one, we hold him in no +unfriendly remembrance; [Footnote: Pyrrhus, after the only victory that +he obtained over the Romans, treated his prisoners with signal humanity, +and restored them without ransom. See _De Officiis_, i. 12] the other +because of his cruelty our people must always hate. [Footnote: It may be +doubted wheter Hannibal deserved the reproach here implied. The Roman +historians ascribe to him acts of cruelty no worse than their own +generals were chargeable with: while nothing of the kind is related by +either Polybius, or Plutarch. It is certain that after the battle of +Cannae he checked the needless slaughter of the Roman fugitives, and +Livy relates several instances in which he paid funeral honors, to +distinguished Romans slain in battle. The intense hostility of the +Romans to Carthage may have led to an unfair estimate of the great +general's character, and to the invention or exaggeration of reports to +his discredit.] + +9. But if good faith has such attractive power that we love it in those +whom we have never seen, or--what means still more--in an enemy, what +wonder is it if the minds of men are moved to affection when they behold +the virtue and goodness of those with whom they can become intimately +united? + +Love is, indeed, strengthened by favors received, by witnessing +assiduity in one's service, and by habitual intercourse; and when these +are added to the first impulse of the mind toward love, there flames +forth a marvellously rich glow of affectionate feeling. If there are any +who think that this proceeds from conscious weakness and the desire to +have some person through whom one can obtain what he lacks, they assign, +indeed, to friendship a mean and utterly ignoble origin, born, as they +would have it, of poverty and neediness. If this were true, then the +less of resource one was conscious of having in himself, the better +fitted would he be for friendship. The contrary is the case; for the +more confidence a man has in himself, and the more thoroughly he is +fortified by virtue and wisdom, so that he is in need of no one, and +regards all that concerns him as in his own keeping, the more noteworthy +is he for the friendships which he seeks and cherishes. What? Did +Africanus need me? Not in the least by Hercules. As little did I need +him. But I was drawn to him by admiration of his virtue while he, in +turn, loved me, perhaps from some favorable estimate of my character, +and intimacy incieased our mutual affection. But though utilities many +and great resulted from our friendship, the cause of our mutual love did +not proceed from the hope of what it might bring. For as we are +beneficent and generous, not in order to exact kindnesses in return (for +we do not put our kind offices to interest), but are by nature inclined +to be generous, so, in my opinion, friendship is not to be sought for +its wages, but because its revenue consists entirely in the love which +it implies. Those, however, who, after the manner of beasts, refer +everything to pleasure, [Footnote: The Epicureans] think very +differently. Nor is it wonderful that they do, for men who have degraded +all their thoughts to so mean and contemptible an end can rise to the +contemplation of nothing lofty, nothing magnificent and divine. We may, +therefore, leave them out of this discussion. But let us have it well +understood that the feeling of love and the endearments of mutual +affection spring from nature, in case there is a well-established +assurance of moral worth in the person thus loved. Those who desire to +become friends approach each other, and enter into relation with each +other, that each may enjoy the society and the character of him whom he +has begun to love, and they are equal in love, and on either side are +more inclined to bestow obligations than to claim a return, so that in +this matter there is an honorable rivalry between them. Thus will the +greatest benefits be derived from friendship, and it will have a more +solid and genuine foundation as tracing its origin to nature than if it +proceeded from human weakness. For if it were utility that cemented +friendships, an altered aspect of utility would dissolve them. But +because nature cannot be changed, therefore true friendships are +eternal. This may suffice for the origin of friendship, unless you have, +perchance, some objection to what I have said. + +FANNIUS. Go on, Laelius. I answer by the right of seniority for Scaevola +who is younger than I am. + +SCAEVOLA. I am of the same mind with you. Let us then, hear farther. + +10 LAELIUS. Hear then, my excellent friends the substance of the +frequent discussions on friendship between Scipio and me. He indeed, +said [footnote: The construction of this entire section is in the +subjective imperfect depending on the _dicebat_ in the second sentence. +It has seemed to me that the direct form of constiution which I have +adopted is more consonant with the genius of our language.] that nothing +is more difficult than for friendship to last through life; for friends +happen to have conflicting interests, or different political opinions. +Then, again, as he often said, characters change, sometimes under +adverse conditions, sometimes with growing years. He cited also the +analogy of what takes place in early youth, the most ardent loves of +boyhood being often laid aside with its robe. But if friendships last on +into opening manhood, they are not infrequently broken up by rivalry in +quest of a wife, or in the pursuit of some advantage which only one can +obtain. [Footnote: Had Cicero not been personating Laelius, who died +long before the quarrel occurred, he would undoubtedly have cited the +case of Servilius Caepio and Livius Diusus. They married each other's +sisters, and were united in the closest intimacy, and seemingly in the +dearest mutual love; but as rivals in bidding for a ring at an auction- +sale they had their first quarrel, which grew into intense mutual +hatred, led almost to a civil war between their respective partisans, +and bore no small part in starting the series of dissentions which +issued in the Social War, and the destruction of not far from three +hundred thousand lives. I refer to this in a note, because it must have +been fresh in Cicero's memory, and had annotation been the habit of his +time, he would most assuredly have given it the place which I now give +it.] Then, if friendships are of longer duration, they yet, as Scipio +said, are liable to be undermined by competition for office; and indeed +there is nothing more fatal to friendship than, in very many cases, the +greed of gain, and among some of the best of men the contest for place +and fame, which has often engendered the most intense enmity between +those who had been the closest friends. Strong and generally just +aversion, also, springs up when anything morally wrong is required of a +friend; as when he is asked to aid in the gratification of impure +desire, or to render his assistance in some unrighteous act,--in which +case those who refuse, although their conduct is highly honorable, are +yet charged by the persons whom they will not serve with being false to +the claims of friendship, while those who dare to make such a demand of +a friend profess, by the very demand, that they are ready to do anything +and everything for a friend's sake. By such quarrels, not only are old +intimacies often dissolved, but undying hatreds generated. So many of +these perils hang like so many fates over friendship, that to escape +them all seemed to Scipio, as he said, to indicate not wisdom alone, but +equally a rare felicity of fortune. + +11. Let us then, first, if you please, consider how far the love of +friends ought to go. If Coriolanus had friends, ought they to have +helped him in fighting against his country, or should the friends of +Viscellinus [Footnote: Spurius Cassius Viscellinus, the author of the +earliest agrarian law, passed, but never carried into execution. He was +condemned to death,--probably a victim to the rancorous opposition of +the patrician order, of which he was regarded as a recreant member by +virtue of his advocacy of the rights or just claims of the _plebs_. +Cicero in early life was by no means so hostile to the principle +underlying the agrarian laws, and to the memory of the Gracchi, as he +was after he had reached the highest offices in the gift of the people.] +or those of Spurius Maelius [Footnote: Maelius, of the equestrian order, +but of a plebeian family, obtained unbounded popularity with the _plebs_ +by selling corn at a low price, and giving away large quantities of it, +in a time of famine. He was charged with seeking kingly power, and, on +account of his alleged movements with that purpose, Cincinnatus was +appointed dictator, and Maelius, resisting a summons to his tribunal, +was killed by Ahala, his master of the horse. There seems to have been +little evidence of his actual guilt.] have aided them in the endeavor to +usurp regal power? We saw, indeed, Tiberius Gracchus, when he was +disturbing the peace of the State, deserted by Quintus Tubero and others +with whom he had been on terms of intimacy. But Caius Blossius, of +Cumae, the guest,[Footnote: _Hospes,_ guest, host, or both.] Scaevola, +of your family, coming to me, when I was in conference with the Consuls +Laenas and Rupilius, to implore pardon, urged the plea that he held +Tiberius Gracchus in so dear esteem that he felt bound to do whatever he +desired. I then asked him, "Even if he had wanted you to set fire to the +Capitol, would you have done it?" He replied, "He never would have made +such a request." "But if he had?" said I. "I would have obeyed him," was +the answer. And, by Hercules, he did as he said, or even more; for he +did not so much yield obedience to the audacious schemes of Tiberius +Gracchus, as he was foremost in them; he was not so much the companion +of his madness, as its leader. Therefore, in consequence of this folly, +alarmed by the appointment of special judges for his trial, he fled to +Asia, entered the service of our enemies, and finally met the heavy and +just punishment for his disloyalty to his country. [Footnote: He took +refuge with Aristonicus, King of Pergamus, then at war with Rome; and +when Aristonicus was conquered, Blossius committed suicide for fear of +being captured by the Roman army.] + +It is, then, no excuse for wrong-doing that you do wrong for the sake of +a friend. Indeed, since it may have been a belief in your virtue that +has made one your friend, it is hard for friendship to last if you fall +away from virtue. But if we should determine either to concede to +friends whatever they may ask, or to exact from them whatever we may +desire, we and they must be endowed with perfect wisdom, in order for +our friendship to be blameless. We are speaking, however, of such +friends as we have before our eyes, or as we have seen or have known by +report,--of such as are found in common life. It is from these that we +must take our examples, especially from such of them as make the nearest +approach to perfect wisdom. We have learned from our fathers that Papus +Aemilius was very intimate with Caius Luscinus, they having twice been +consuls together, as well as colleagues in the censorship; and it is +said also that Manius Curius and Tiberius Coruncanius lived in the +closest friendship both with them and with each other. Now we cannot +suspect that either of these men would have asked of one of his friends +anything inconsistent with good faith, or with an engagement sanctioned +by oath, or with his duty to the State. Indeed, to what purpose is it to +say that among such men if one had asked anything wrong, he would not +have obtained it? For they were men of the most sacred integrity; while +to ask anything wrong of a friend and to do it when asked are alike +tokens of deep depravity. But Caius Carbo and Caius Cato were the +followers of Tiberius Gracchus, as was his brother Caius, at first with +little ardor, but now [Footnote: _Now_, that is, at the time at which +this dialogue has its assumed date, immediately after Scipio's death. At +that time Caius Gracchus was acting as a commissioner under his +brother's agrarian law.] most zealously. + +12. As to friendship, then, let this law be enacted, that we neither ask +of a friend what is wrong, nor do what is wrong at a friend's request. +The plea that it was for a friend's sake is a base apology,--one that +should never be admitted with regard to other forms of guilt, and +certainly not as to crimes against the State. We, indeed, Fannius and +Scaevola, are so situated that we ought to look far in advance for the +perils that our country may incur. Already has our public policy +deviated somewhat from the method and course of our ancestors. Tiberius +Gracchus attempted to exercise supreme power; nay, he really reigned for +a few months. What like this had the Roman people ever heard or seen +before? What, after his death, the friends and kindred who followed him +did in their revenge on Publius Scipio [Footnote: Publius Cornelius +Scipio Nasica, who took the lead of the Senate in the assassination of +Tiberius Gracchus, and incurred such popular odium that he could not +safely stay in Rome. He was sent on a fictitious mission to Asia to get +him out of the way of the people, and not daring to return, wandered +with no settled habitation till his death at Pergamum not long before +the assumed date of this dialogue.] I cannot say without tears. We put +up with Carbo [Footnote: Carbo succeeded Tiberius Gracchus on the +commission for carrying the agrarian law into execution, and was shortly +afterward chosen Tribune. He then proposed a law, permitting a tribune +to be re-elected for an indefinite number of years. This law was +vehemently opposed by Scipio Africanus the Younger, and if he was really +killed by Carbo, it was probably on account of his hostility to Carbo's +ambitious schemes.] as well as we could in consideration of the recent +punishment of Tiberius Gracchus; but I am in no mood to predict what is +to be expected from the tribuneship of Caius Gracchus. Meanwhile the +evil is creeping upon us, from its very beginning fraught with threats +of ruin. Before recent events, [Footnote: The reference undoubtedly here +is to the Papirian law which had just been passed before the assumed +date of this dialogue, having been proposed and carried through by +(Caius _Papirius_) Carbo. By this law the use of the ballot was +established in all matters of popular legislation.] you perceive how +much degeneracy was indicated in the legalization of the ballot, first +by Gabinian, [Footnote: By which magistrates were to be chosen by +ballot.] then two years later by the Cassian law. [Footnote: By which +the judges were to be chosen by ballot. With reference to the use of the +ballot the parties in Rome were prototypes of like parties in England. +The voice of the people was for the ballot, on the ground that it made +suffrage free, as it could not be when employers or patrons could +dictate to their dependents and make them suffer for failure to vote in +favor of their own candidates or measures. The aristocratic party +opposed the ballot as fatal to their controlling influence, which many +sincere patriots, like Cicero, regarded as essential to the public +safety, while patrician demagogues, intriguers, and office-seekers made +it subservient to their own selfish or partisan interests.] I seem +already to see the people utterly alienated from the Senate, and the +most important affairs determined by the will of the multitude; for more +persons will learn how these things are brought about than how they may +be resisted. To what purpose am I saying this? Because no one makes such +attempts without associates. It is therefore to be enjoined on good men +that they must not think themselves so bound that they cannot renounce +their friends when they are guilty of crimes against the State. But +punishment must be inflicted on all who are implicated in such guilt,-- +on those who follow, no less than on those who lead. Who in Greece was +more renowned than Themistocles? Who had greater influence than he had? +When as commander in the Persian war he had freed Greece from bondage, +and for envy of his fame was driven into exile, he did not bear as he +ought the ill treatment of his ungrateful country. He did what +Coriolanus had done with us twenty years before. Neither of these men +found any helper against his country; [Footnote: No one of his own +fellow-countrymen.] they therefore both committed suicide. [Footnote: If +the story of Coriolanus be not a myth, as Niebuhr supposes it to be, his +suicide forms no part of the story as Livy tells it. The suicide of +Themistocles is related as a supposition, not as an established fact. If +he died of poison, as was said, it may have been administered by a rival +in the favor of Artaxerxes.] Association with depraved men for such an +end is not, then, to be shielded by the plea of friendship, but rather +to be avenged by punishment of the utmost severity, so that no one may +ever think himself authorized to follow a friend to the extent of making +war upon his country,--an extremity which, indeed, considering the +course that our public affairs have begun to take, may, for aught I +know, be reached at some future time. I speak thus because I feel no +less concern for the fortunes of the State after my death than as to its +present condition. + +13. Let this, then, be enacted as the first law of friendship, that we +demand of friends only what is right, and that we do for the sake of +friends only what is right. [Footnote: This is a virtual repetition of +the law of friendship announced at the beginning of the previous +section, and Cicero probably so intended it. He states the rule, then +demonstrates its validity, then repeats it in an almost identical form, +implying what the mathematician expresses when he puts at the end of a +demonstration _Quod erat demonstrandum._] This understood, let us not +wait to be asked. Let there be constant assiduity and no loitering in a +friend's service. Let us also dare to give advice freely; for in +friendship the authority of friends who give good counsel may be of the +greatest value. Let admonition be administered, too, not only in plain +terms, but even with severity, if need be, and let heed be given to such +admonition. On this subject some things that appear to me strange have, +as I am told, been maintained by certain Greeks who are accounted as +philosophers, and are so skilled in sophistry that there is nothing +which they cannot seem to prove. Some of them hold that very intimate +friendships are to be avoided; that there is no need that one feel +solicitude for others; that it is enough and more than enough to take +care of your own concerns, and annoying to be involved to any +considerable extent in affairs not belonging to you; that the best way +is to have the reins of friendship as loose as possible, so that you can +tighten them or let them go at pleasure; for, according to them, ease is +the chief essential to happy living, and this the mind cannot enjoy, if +it bears, as it were, the pains of travail in behalf of a larger or +smaller circle of friends. [Footnote: This passage seems to be a +paraphrase of a passage in the _Hippolytus_ of Euripides, in which the +Nurse says: "It behooves mortals to form moderate friendships with one +another, and not to the very marrow of the soul, and the affections of +the mind should be held loosely, so that we may slacken or tighten them. +That one soul should be in travail for two is a heavy burden." Euripides +was regarded, and rightly, as no less a philosopher than a tragedian, +and was not infrequently styled [Greek: sophos]. Cicero here veils his +thorough conversance with Greek literature and philosophy, and assumes +the part of Laelius, in whose time, though Greek was not omitted in the +education of cultivated men, the study was comparatively new, and was +not carried to any great extent.] + +Others, [Footnote: The Epicureans.] I am told, with even much less of +true human feeling, teach what I touched upon briefly a little while +ago, that friendships are to be sought for defence and help, not on +account of good-will and affection. The less of self-confidence and the +less of strength one has, the more is he inclined to make friends. Thus +it is that women [Footnote: Latin, _mulierculae_, a diminutive, meaning, +however, not _little women_, but denoting the feebleness and dependence +of women in comparison with men. It must be confessed, too, that the +term is sometimes used, and perhaps here, semi-contemptuously; for the +Roman man felt an overweening pride in mere manhood.] seek the support +of friendship more than men do, the poor more than the rich, the +unfortunate more than those who seem happy. Oh, pre-eminent wisdom! It +is like taking the sun out of the world, to bereave human life of +friendship, than which the immortal gods have given man nothing better, +nothing more gladdening. What is the ease of which they speak? It is +indeed pleasing in aspect, but on many occasions it is to be renounced; +for it is not fitting, in order to avoid solicitude, either to refuse to +undertake any right cause or act, or to drop it after it is undertaken. +If we flee from care, we must flee from virtue, which of necessity with +no little care spurns and abhors its opposites, as goodness spurns and +abhors wickedness; temperance, excess; courage, cowardice. Thus you may +see that honest men are excessively grieved by the dishonest, the brave +by the pusillanimous, those who lead sober lives by the dissolute. It is +indeed characteristic of a well-ordered mind to rejoice in what is good +and to be grieved by the opposite. If then, pain of mind fall to the lot +of a wise man as it must of necessity unless we imagine his mind +divested of its humanity, why should we take friendship wholly out of +life, lest we experience some little trouble on account of it? Yet more, +if emotion be eliminated, what difference is there, I say not between a +man and a brute, but between a man and a rock, or the trunk of a tree, +or any inanimate object? Nor are those to be listened to, who regard +virtue as something hard and iron-like. [Footnote: Here, undoubtedly, +Cicero refers to the sterner type of Stoicism, which in his time was +already obsolescent, and was yielding place to the milder, while no less +rigid, ethics of which the _De Officiis_ may be regarded as the manual.] +As in many other matters, so in friendship, it is tender and flexible so +that it expands, as it were, with a friend's well being, and shrinks +when his peace is disturbed. Therefore the pain which must often be +incurred on a friend's account is not of sufficient moment to banish +friendship from human life, any more than the occasional care and +trouble which the virtues bring should be a reason for renouncing them. + +14. Since virtue attracts friendship, as I have said, if there shines +forth any manifestation of virtue with which a mind similarly disposed +can come into contact and union from such intercourse love must of +necessity spring. For what is so absurd as to be charmed with many +things that have no substantial worth, as with office, fame, +architecture, dress, and genteel appearance, but not to be in any wise +charmed by a mind endowed with virtue, and capable of either loving or-- +if I may use the word--re-loving? [Footnote: Latin, _redamare_, a word +coined by Cicero, and used with the apology, _ut ita dicam_] Nothing +indeed yields a richer revenue than kind affections, nothing gives more +delight than the interchange of friendly cares and offices. Then if we +add, as we rightly may, that there is nothing which so allures and +attracts aught else to itself as the likeness of character does to +friendship it will certainly be admitted that good men love good men and +adopt them into fellowship as if united with them by kindred and by +nature. By nature I say, for nothing is more craving or greedy of its +like than nature. This, then as I think, is evident, Fannius and +Scaevola that among the good toward the good there cannot but be mutual +kind feeling and in this we have a fountain of friendship established by +nature. + +But the same kind feeling extends to the community at large. For virtue +is not unsympathetic, nor unserviceable, [Footnote: Latin, _immunis_, +literally--without office.] nor proud. It is wont even to watch over the +well-being of whole nations, and to give them the wisest counsel, which +it would not do if it had no love for the people. + +Now those who maintain that friendships are formed from motives of +utility annul, as it seems to me, the most endearing bond of friendship; +for it is not so much benefit obtained through a friend as it is the +very love of the friend that gives delight. What comes from a friend +confers pleasure, only in case it bears tokens of his interest in us, +and so far is it from the truth that friendships are cultivated from a +sense of need, that those fully endowed with wealth and resources, +especially with virtue, which is the surest safeguard, and thus in no +need of friends, are the very persons who are the most generous and +munificent. Indeed, I hardly know whether it may not be desirable that +our friends should never have need of our services. Yet in the case of +Scipio and myself, what room would there have been for the active +exercise of my zeal in his behalf, had he never needed my counsel or +help at home or in the field? In this instance, however, the service +came after the friendship, not the friendship after the service. + +15. If these things are so, men who are given up to pleasure are not to +be listened to when they express their opinions about friendship, of +which they can have no knowledge either by experience or by reflection. +For, by the faith of gods and men, who is there that would be willing to +have a superabundance of all objects of desire and to live in the utmost +fulness of wealth and what wealth can bring, on condition of neither +loving any one nor being loved by any one? This, indeed, is the life of +tyrants, in which there is no good faith, no affection, no fixed +confidence in kindly feeling, perpetual suspicion and anxiety, and no +room for friendship; for who can love either him whom he fears, or him +by whom he thinks that he is feared? Yet they receive the show of +homage, but only while the occasion for it lasts. [Footnote: Latin, _dum +taxat ad tempus_, that is, while the homage rendered is in close contact +with the occasion,--with the immunity or profit to be purchased by it.] +If they chance to fall, as they commonly have fallen, they then +ascertain how destitute of friends they have been, as Tarquin is +reported to have said that he learned what faithful and what unfaithful +friends he had, when he could no longer render back favors to those of +either class,--although I wonder whether pride and insolence like his +could have had any friends. Moreover, as his character could not have +won real friends, so is the good fortune of many who occupy foremost +places of influence so held as to preclude faithful friendships. Not +only is Fortune blind, but she generally makes those blind whom she +embraces. Thus they are almost always beside themselves under the +influence of haughtiness and waywardness; nor can there be created +anything more utterly insupportable than a fortune-favored fool. There +are to be seen those who previously behaved with propriety who are +changed by station, power, or prosperity, and who spurn their old +friendships and lavish indulgence on the new. But what is more foolish +than when men have resources, means, wealth at their fullest command, +and can obtain horses, servants, splendid raiment, costly vases, +whatever money can buy, for them not to procure friends, who are, if I +may so speak, the best and the most beautiful furniture of human life? +Other things which a man may procure know not him who procures them, nor +do they labor for his sake,--indeed, they belong to him who can make +them his by the right of superior strength. But every one has his own +firm and sure possession of his friendships, while even if those things +which seem the gifts of fortune remain, still life unadorned and +deserted by friends cannot be happy. But enough has been said on this +branch of our subject. + +16. We must now determine the limits or bounds of friendship. On this +subject I find three opinions proposed, neither of which has my +approval,--the first, that we should do for our friends just what we +would do for ourselves, the second, that our good offices to our friends +should correspond in quantity and quality to those which they perform +for us, the third, that one's friends should value him according to his +own self-estimate. I cannot give unqualified assent to either of these +opinions. The first--that one should be ready to do for his friends +precisely what he would do for himself--is inadmissible. How many things +there are that we do for our friends which we should never do on our own +account!--such as making a request even an entreaty, of a man unworthy +of respect or inveighing against some person with a degree of +bitterness, nay, in terms of vehement reproach. In fine, we are +perfectly right in doing in behalf of a friend things that in our own +case would be decidedly unbecoming. There are also many ways in which +good men detract largely from their own comfort or suffer it to be +impaired, that a friend may have the enjoyment which they sacrifice. The +second opinion is that which limits kind offices and good will by the +rule of equality. This is simply making friendship a matter of +calculation with the view of keeping a debtor and creditor account +evenly balanced. To me friendship seems more affluent and generous and +not disposed to keep strict watch lest it may give more than it receives +and to fear that a part of its due may be spilled over or suffered to +leak out or that it may heap up its own measure over full in return. +[Footnote: We have here, first, a figure drawn from pecuniary accounts, +then one from liquid measure, then one from dry measure--all designed to +affix the brand of the most petty meanness on the (so called) friendship +which makes it a point neither to leave nor to brook a preponderance of +obligation on either side.] But worst of all is the third limit which +prescribes that friends shall take a man's opinion of himself as a +measure for their estimate and treatment of him. There are some persons +who are liable to fits of depression, or who have little hope of better +fortune than the present. In such a case, it is the part of a friend, +not to hold the position toward his friend which he holds toward +himself, but to make the efficient endeavor to rouse him from his +despondency, and to lead him to better hope and a more cheerful train of +thought. It remains for me then, to establish another limit of +friendship. But first let me tell you what Scipio was wont to speak of +with the severest censure. He maintained that no utterance could have +been invented more inimical to friendship [Footnote: Latin, _inimciorem_ +(that is, _in amiciorem_) _amicitiae_.] than that of him who said that +one ought to love as if he were going at some future time to hate, nor +could he be brought to believe that this maxim came, as was reported +from Bias, who was one of the seven wise men, but he regarded it as +having proceeded from some sordid person, who was either inordinately +ambitious or desirous of bringing everything under his own control. For +how can one be a friend to him to whom he thinks that he may possibly +become an enemy? In this case one would of necessity desire and choose +that his friend should commit offences very frequently, so as to give +him, so to speak, the more numerous handles for fault-finding, and on +the other hand one would be vexed, pained, aggrieved by all the right +and fitting things that friends do. This precept then from whomsoever it +came, amounts to the annulling of friendship. The proper rule should be, +that we exercise so much caution in forming friendships, that we should +never begin to love a friend whom it is possible that we should ever +hate; but even in case we should have been unfortunate in our choice, +Scipio thought that it would be wiser to bear the disappointment when it +comes than to keep the contingency of future alienation in view. + +17. I would then define the terms of friendship by saying that where +friends are of blameless character, there may fittingly be between them +a community of all interests, plans, and purposes without any exception +even so far that, if perchance there be occasion for furthering the not +entirely right wishes of friends when life or reputation is at stake, +one may in their behalf deviate somewhat from a perfectly straight +course [1] yet not so far as to + +[1 This at first sight appears like a license to yield up moral +considerations to friendship, though the qualification, in the sequel, +"not so far as to incur absolute dishonor," and "virtue is by no means +to be sacrificed," seem saving clauses. But Cicero certainly has a +right to be his own interpreter since in the _De Officiis_ as I think, +he explains in full and in accordance with the highest moral principle, +what he means here, and we have a double right to insist on this +interpretation first, because the _De Officiis_ was written so very +little while after the _De Amicitia_, and both at so ripe an age, that a +change of opinion on important matters was improbable and secondly, +because in the later treatise he expressly refers to the former as +giving in full his views on friendship, and thus virtually sanctions +that treatise. Now in the _De Officiis_ he says A good man will do +nothing against the State, or in violation of his oath of good faith, +for the sake of his friend, not even if he were a judge in his friend's +case. . . . He will yield so far to friendship as to wish his friend's +case to be worthy of succeeding, and to accommodate him as to the time +of trial, within legal limits. But inasmuch as he must give sentence +upon his oath, he will bear it in mind that he has "God for a witness." +In another passage of the _De Officiis,_ Cicero asserts, somewhat +hesitatingly, yet on the authority of Panaetius as the strictest of +Stoics, the moral rightfulness of "defending on some occasions a guilty +man, if he be not utterly depraved and false to all human relations." As +in the passage on which I am commenting special reference is made to the +peril of life or reputation, what Cicero contends for, as it seems to +me, is the right of defending a guilty friend as advocate, or of +favoring him as to time and mode of trial as a judge. Aulius Gellius, in +connection with this passage in _De Amicitia,_ tells the following story +of Chilo, who was on some of the lists of the seven wise men. Chilo, on +the last day of his life, said that the only thing that gave him uneasy +thought, and was burdensome to his conscience, was that once when he and +two other men were judges in a case in which a friend of his was tried +for a capital crime, he, in accordance with his own conviction, voted +his friendy guilty, but so influenced the minds of his two associates +that they gave their voice for his acquittal.] + +incur absolute dishonor. There is a point up to which a concession made +to friendship is venial. But we are not bound to be careless of our own +reputation, nor ought we to regard the esteem of our fellow-citizens as +an instrument of such affairs as devolve upon us,--an esteem which it is +base to conciliate [footnote: Latin, _colligere,_ to collect, or gather +up, one by one, the good-will of each individual citizen.] by flattery +and fawning. Virtue, which has the sincere regard of the people as its +consequence, is by no means to be sacrificed to friendship. + +But, to return to Scipio, who was all the time talking about friendship, +he often complained that men exercised greater care about all other +matters; that one could always tell how many goats and sheep he had, but +could not tell how many friends he had; and that men were careful in +selecting their beasts, but were negligent in the choice of friends, and +had nothing like marks and tokens [footnote: Latin, _signa et notas,_ +the marks and tokens by which the quality and worth of goats and sheep +were estimated.] by which to determine the fitness of friends. + +Firm, steadfast, self-consistent men are to be chosen as friends, and of +this kind of men there is a great dearth. It is very difficult to judge +of character before we have tested it; but we can test it only after +firendship is begun. Thus friendship is prone to outrun judgment, and to +render a fair trial impossible. It is therefore the part of a wise man +to arrest the impulse of kindly feeling, as we check a carriage in its +course, that, as we use only horses that have been tried, so we may +avail ourselves of friendships in which the characters of our friends +have been somehow put to the test. Some readily show how fickle their +friendship is in paltry pecuniary matters; others, whom a slight +consideration of that kind cannot influence, betray themselves when a +large amount is involved. But if some can be found who think it mean to +prefer money to friendship, where shall we come upon those who do not +put honors, civic offices, military commands, places of power and trust, +before friendship, so that when these are offered on the one hand, and +the claims of friendship on the other, they will much rather make choice +of the objects of ambition? For nature is too feeble to despise a +commanding station, and even though it be obtained by the violation of +friendship men think that this fault will be thrown into obscurity, +because it was not without a weighty motive that they held friendship in +abeyance. Thus true friendships are rare among those who are in public +office, and concerned in the affairs of the State. For where will you +find him who prefers a friend's promotion to his own? What more shall I +say? Not to dwell longer on the influence of ambition upon friendship, +how burdensome how difficult does it seem to most men to share +misfortunes to which it is not easy to find those who are willing to +stoop. Although Ennius is right in saying + +"In unsure fortune a sure friend is seen," + +yet one of these two things convicts most persons of fickleness and +weakness,--either their despising their friends when they themselves are +prosperous, or deserting their friends in adversity. + +18 Him, then, who alike in either event shall have shown himself +unwavering, constant, firm in friendship we ought to regard as of an +exceedingly rare and almost divine order of men. + +Still further good faith is essential to the maintenance of the +stability and constancy which we demand in friendship, for nothing that +is unfaithful is stable. It is, moreover, fitting to choose tor a friend +one who is frank, affable, accommodating, interested in the same things +with ourselves,--all which qualities come under the head of fidelity, +for a changeful and wily disposition cannot be faithful, nor can he who +has not like interests and a kindred nature with his friend be either +faithful or stable. I ought to add that a friend should neither take +pleasure in finding fault with his friend, nor give credit to the +charges which others may bring against him,--all which is implied in the +constancy of which I have been speaking. Thus we come back to the truth +which I announced at the beginning of our conversation, that friendship +can exist only between the good. It is, indeed, the part of a good or-- +what is the same thing--a wise man [Footnote: Wisdom and goodness were +identical with the Stoics.] to adhere to these two principles in +friendship,--first, that he tolerate no feigning or dissembling (for an +ingenuous man will rather show even open hatred than hide his feeling by +his face), and, secondly, that he not only repel charges made against +his friend by others, but that he be not himself suspicious, and always +thinking that his friend has done something unfriendly. + +To these requisites there may well be added suavity of speech and +manners, which is of no little worth as giving a relish to the +intercourse of friendship. Rigidness and austerity of demeanor on every +occasion indeed carry weight with them, but friendship ought to be more +gentle and mild, and more inclined to all that is genial and affable. + +19 There occurs here a question by no means difficult,[Footnote: Latin, +_subdifficilis_ which I should render _somewhat difficult_ had not +Cicero treat that question as one that presents no difficulty. In the +ancient tongues, as in our own or even more than in our own, a word is +often better defined by its use than in the dictionary.] whether at any +time new friends worthy of our love are to be preferred to the old, as +we are wont to prefer young horses to those that have passed their +prime. Shame that there should be hesitation as to the answer! There +ought to be no satiety of friendships, as there is rightly of many other +things. The older a friendship is, the more precious should it be as is +the case with wines that will bear keeping, [Footnote: Some of the best +Italian wines will not "bear keeping," and it was probably true of more +of them in Cicero's time than now that wines are so often vitiated by +strong alcoholic mixtures in order to preserve them. Cato, in his _De Re +Rustica_, prescribes a method of determining whether the wine of any +given vintage will "keep".] and there is truth in the proverb that many +pecks of salt must be eaten together to bring friendship to perfection. +[Footnote: Aristotle quotes this as a proverbial saying, so that it must +be of very great antiquity.] If new friendships offer the hope of fruit, +like the young shoots in the grain-field that give promise of harvest, +they are not indeed to be spurned, yet the old are to be kept in their +place. There is very great power in long habit. To recur to the horse +there is no one who would not rather use the horse to which he has +become accustomed, if he is still sound, than one unbroken and new. Nor +has habit this power merely as to the movements of an animal, it +prevails no less as to inanimate objects. We are charmed with the places +though mountainous and woody, [Footnote: Therefore uninviting, for +mountain and forest had not in early time the charm which we find in +them. Indeed the love of nature uncultivated and unadorned is for the +most part, of modern growth.] where we have made a long sojourn. But +what is most remarkable in friendship is that it puts a man on an +equality with his inferior. For there often are in a circle of friends +those who excel the rest, as was the case with Scipio in our flock, if I +may use the word. He never assumed superiority over Philus, never over +Rupilius, never over Mummius, never over friends of an order lower than +his own. Indeed he always reverenced as a superior, because older than +himself, his brother Quintus Maximus [Footnote: Quintus Fabius Maximus +Aemilianus, the eldest son of Aemilius Paulus, and the adopted son of +Fabius Maximus.] a thoroughly worthy man, but by no means his equal, and +in fact he wanted to make all his friends of the more consequence by +whatever advantages he himself possessed. This example all ought to +imitate, that if they have attained any superiority of virtue, genius, +fortune, they may impart it to and share it with those with whom they +are the most closely connected; and that if they are of humble +parentage, and have kindred of slender ability or fortune, they may +increase their means of well-being, and reflect honor and worth upon +them,--as in fable those who were long in servile condition through +ignorance of their parentage and race, when they were recognized and +found to be sons either of gods or of kings, retained their love for the +shepherds whom for many years they supposed to be their fathers. Much +more ought the like to be done in the case of real and well-known +fathers; for the best fruit of genius, and virtue, and every kind of +excellence is reaped when it is thus bestowed on near kindred and +friends. + +20. Moreover, as among persons bound by ties of friendship and intimacy +those who hold the higher place ought to bring themselves down to the +same plane with their inferiors, so ought these last not to feel +aggrieved because they are surpassed in ability, or fortune, or rank by +their friends. Most of them, however, are always finding some ground of +complaint, or even of reproach, especially if they can plead any service +that they have rendered faithfully, in a friendly way, and with a +certain amount of painstaking on their part. Such men, indeed, are +hateful when they reproach their friends on the score of services which +he on whom they were bestowed ought to bear in mind, but which it is +unbecoming for him who conferred them to recount. + +Those who are superior ought, undoubtedly, not only to waive all +pretension in friendly intercourse, but to do what they can to raise +their humbler friends to their own level.[l] There are some who give +their friends trouble by imagining that they are held in low esteem, +which, however, is not apt to be the case except with those who think +meanly of themselves. Those who feel thus ought to be raised to a just +self-esteem, not only by kind words, but by substantial service. But +what you do for any one must be measured, first by your own ability, and +then by the capacity of him whom you would favor and help. For, however +great your influence may be, you cannot raise all your friends to the +highest positions. Thus Scipio could effect the election of Publius +Rupilius to the consulship; but he could not do the same for his brother +Lucius.[2] In general, friendships that are properly so called are +formed between persons of mature years and established character; nor if +young men have been fond of hunting or of ball-playing, is there any +need of permanent attachment to those whom they then liked as associates +in the same sport. On this principle our nurses and the slaves that led +us to school will demand by right of priority the highest grade + +[1 Or, as it might be rendered by supplying a _se_ "so ought the humbler +to do what they can to raise themselves." Some of the commentators +prefer this sense; but if Cicero meant _se,_ I think that he would have +written it.] + +[2 The brother of Publius Rupilius, not his own brother.] + +of affectionate regard,--persons, indeed, who are not to be neglected, +but who are on a somewhat different footing from that of friends. +Friendships formed solely from early associations cannot last; for +differences of character grow out of a diversity of pursuits, and +unlikeness of character dissolves friendships. Nor is there any reason +why good men cannot be the friends of bad men, or bad men of good, +except that the dissiliency of pursuits and of character between them is +as great as it can be. + +It is also a counsel worthy of heed, that excessive fondness be not +suffered to interfere, as it does too often, with important services +that a friend can render. To resort again to fable, Neoptolemus could +not have taken Troy [Footnote: Or rather, could not have borne the +indispensable part which it was predicted that he should bear in the +taking of Troy.]if he had chosen to comply with the wishes of Lycomedes, +who brought him up, and who with many tears attempted to dissuade him +from his expedition. Equally in actual life there are not infrequently +important occasions on which the society of friends must be for a time +abandoned; and he who would prevent this because he cannot easily bear +the separation, is of a weak and unmanly nature, and for that very +reason unfit to fill the place of a friend. In fine, in all matters you +should take into consideration both what you may reasonably demand of +your friend, and what you can fitly suffer him to obtain from you. + +21. The misfortune involved in the dissolution of friendships is +sometimes unavoidable; for I am now coming down from the intimacies of +wise men to common friendships. Faults of friends often betray +themselves openly--whether to the injury of their friends themselves, or +of strangers--in such a way that the disgrace falls back upon their +friends. Such friendships are to be effaced by the suspension of +intercourse, and, as I have heard Cato say, to be unstitched rather than +cut asunder, unless some quite intolerable offence flames out to full +view, so that it can be neither right nor honorable not to effect an +immediate separation and dissevering. But if there shall have been some +change either in character or in the habits of life, or if there have +sprung up some difference of opinion as to public affairs,--I am +speaking, as I have just said, of common friendships, not of those +between wise men,--care should be taken lest there be the appearance, +not only of friendship dropped, but of enmity taken up; for nothing is +more unbecoming than to wage war with a man with whom you have lived on +terms of intimacy. Scipio, as you know, had withdrawn from the +friendship of Quintus Pompeius [Footnote: Laelius intending to present +himself as a candidate for the consulship, Scipio asked Pompeius whether +he was going to be a candidate, and when he replied in the negative, +asked him to use his influence in behalf of Laelius. This Pompeius +promised, and then, instead of being true to his word, offered himself +for the consulship, and was elected.] on my account, he became alienated +from Metellus [Footnote: Scipio and Metellus, though their intimacy was +suspended for political reasons, held each other in the highest regard, +and no person in Rome expressed profounder sorrow than Metellus for +Scipio's death or was more warm in his praise as a man of unparalleled +ability, worth, and patriotism.] because of their different views as to +the administration of the State. In both cases he conducted himself with +gravity and dignity, and without any feeling of bitterness. The endeavor +then, must first be, to prevent discord from taking place among friends, +and if anything of the kind occurs, to see that the friendship may seem +to be extinguished rather than crushed out. Care must thus be taken lest +friendships lapse into violent enmities, whence are generated quarrels, +slanders, insults, which yet, if not utterly intolerable, are to be +endured and this honor tendered to old friendship that the blame may +rest with him who does not with him who suffers the wrong. + +The one surety and preventive against these mistakes and misfortunes is, +not to form attachments too soon, nor for those unworthy of such regard. +But it is those in whose very selves there is reason why they should be +loved, that are worthy of friendship. A rare class of men! Indeed, +superlatively excellent objects of every sort are rare, nor is anything +more difficult than to discover that which is in all respects perfect in +its kind. But most persons have acquired the habit of recognizing +nothing as good in human relations and affairs that does not produce +some revenue, and they most love those friends, as they do those cattle, +that will yield them the greatest gain. Thus they lack that most +beautiful and most natural friendship, which is to be sought in itself +and for its own sake, nor can they know from experience what and how +great is the power of such friendship. One loves himself, not in order +to exact from himself any wages for such love, but because he is in +himself dear to himself. Now, unless this same property be transferred +to friendship, a true friend will never be found, for such a friend is, +as it were, another self. But if it is seen in beasts, birds, fishes, +animals tame and wild, that they first love themselves (for self-love is +born with everything that lives) and that they then require and seek +those of their kind to whom they may attach themselves, and do so with +desire and with a certain semblance of human love, how much more is this +natural in man, who both loves himself, and craves another whose soul he +may so blend with his own as almost to make one out of two. + +22 But men in general are so perverse, not to say shameless, as to wish +a friend to be in character what they themselves could not be and they +expect of friends what they do not give them in return. The proper +course however, is for one first to be himself a good man, and then to +seek another like himself. In such persons the stability of friendship, +of which I have been speaking, can be made sure, since, united in mutual +love, they will, in the first place, hold in subjection the desires to +which others are enslaved; then they will find delight in whatever is +equitable and just, and each will take upon himself any labor or burden +in the other's stead, while neither will ever ask of the other aught +that is not honorable and right. Nor will they merely cherish and love, +they will even reverence each other. But he who bereaves friendship of +mutual respect [1] takes from it its greatest ornament. Therefore those +are in fatal error who think that in friendship there is free license +for all lusts and evil practices. Friendship is given by nature, not as +a companion of the vices, but as a helper of the virtues, that, as +solitary virtue might not be able to attain the summit of excellence, +united and associated with another it might reach that eminence. As to +those between whom there is, or has been, or shall be such an alliance, +the fellowship is to be regarded as the best and happiest possible, +inasmuch as it leads to the highest good that nature can bestow. This is +the alliance, I say, in which are included all things that men think +worthy their endeavor,--honor, fame, peace of mind, and pleasure, so +that if these be present life is happy, and cannot be happy without +them. Such a life being the best + +[1 Latin, _verecundio,_ an indefinite word; for it may have almost any +good meaning. I have rendered it _respect_, because I have no doubt that +it derives its meaning here from _verebuntur_, which I have rendered +_reverence_, in the preceding sentence.] + +and greatest boon, if we wish to make it ours, we must devote ourselves +to the cultivation of virtue, without which we can attain neither +friendship nor anything else desirable. But if virtue be left out of the +account, those who think that they have friends perceive that they are +mistaken when some important crisis compels them to put their friends to +the test. Therefore--for it is worth reiterating--you ought to love +after having exercised your judgment on your friends, instead of forming +your judgment of them after you have begun to love them. But while in +many things we are chargeable with carelessness, we are most so in +choosing and keeping our friends. We reverse the old proverb, [Footnote: +What this proverb may have been we cannot determine with precision from +its opposite; but the caution based upon it might remind one of our +proverb about shutting the barn door after the horse is stolen. The +words, _acta agimus,_ so terse that they can be translated only by a +paraphrase, are probably the converse of the proverb, which may have +been something like _non agenda sunt acta_.] take counsel after acting, +and attempt to do over again what we have done; for after having become +closely connected by long habit and even by mutual services, some +occasion of offence springs up, and we suddenly break in sunder a +friendship in full career. + +23. The more blameworthy are they who are so very careless in a matter +of so essential importance. Indeed, among things appertaining to human +life, it is friendship alone that has the unanimous voice of all men as +to its capacity of service. By many even virtue is scorned, and is said +to be a mere matter of display and ostentation. Many despise wealth, and +contented with little take pleasure in slender diet and inexpensive +living. Though some are inflamed with desire for office, many there are +who hold it in so low esteem that they can imagine nothing more inane or +worthless. Other things too, which seem to some admirable, very many +regard as of no value. But all have the same feeling as to friendship,-- +alike those who devote themselves to the public service, those who take +delight in learning and philosophy, those who manage their own affairs +in a quiet way, and, lastly, those who are wholly given up to sensual +pleasure. They all agree that without friendship life cannot be, if one +only means to live in some form or measure respectably. [Footnote: Latin +_liberaliter_ that is, worthily of a free man.] For friendship somehow +twines through all lives and leaves no mode of being without its +presence. Even if one be of so rude and savage a nature as to shun and +hate the society of men, as we have learned was the case with that Timon +of Athens, [Footnote: Plutarch says that Timon had an associate, +virtually a friend, not unlike himself, Apemantus, on whom he freely +vented his spite and scorn for all the world beside and that he also +took a special liking to Alcibiades in his youth, perhaps as to one +fitted and destined to do an untold amount of mischief.] if there ever +was such a man [Footnote: Latin, _nescio, quem_, I know not whom, or of +whom I am ignorant, that is, there may or may not have been such a man.] +he yet cannot help seeking some one in whose presence he may vomit the +venom of his bitterness. The need of friendship would be best shown, +were such a thing possible, if some god should take us away from this +human crowd, and place us anywhere in solitude, giving us there an +abundant supply of all things that nature craves but depriving us +utterly of the sight of a human countenance. Who could be found of so +iron make that he could endure [Footnote: Latin, tam ... _ferreus,_ qiu +... _ferre_ posset,--an assonance which cannot be represented by +corresponding English words.] such a life, and whom solitude would not +render incapable of enjoying any kind of pleasure? That is true then +which, if I remember aright, our elders used to say that they had heard +from their seniors in age as having come from Archytas of Tarentum--"If +one had ascended to heaven and had obtained a full view of the nature of +the universe and the beauty of the stars, yet his admiration would be +without delight, if there were no one to whom he could tell what he had +seen" Thus Nature has no love for solitude, and always leans as it were, +on some support, and the sweetest support is found in the most intimate +friendship. + +24 But while Nature declares by so many tokens what she desires, craves, +needs, we--I know not how--grow deaf, and fail to hear her counsel. + +Intercourse among friends assumes many different forms and modes, and +there frequently arise causes of suspicion and offence, which it is the +part of a wise man sometimes to avoid, sometimes to remove, sometimes to +bear. One ground of offence, namely, freedom in telling the truth, must +be put entirely away, in order that friendship may retain its +serviceableness and its good faith, for friends often need to be +admonished and reproved, and such offices, when kindly performed, ought +to be received in a friendly way. Yet somehow we witness in actual life, +what my friend [Footnote: Terence with whom Laelius was so intimate that +he was reported probably on no sufficient ground to have aided in the +composition of some of the plays that bear Terence's name. This verse is +from the _Andria._] says in his play of _Andria_-- + + +"Complacency *[Footnote: _Obsequium_] wins friends, but truth gives +birth to hatred." + +Truth is offensive, if hatred, the bane of friendship is indeed born of +it, but much more offensive is complacency, when in its indulgence for +wrong doing it suffers a friend to go headlong to ruin. The greatest +blame, however, rests on him who both spurns the truth when it is told +him and is driven by the complacency of friends to self-deception. In +this matter therefore there should be the utmost discretion and care, +first, that admonition be without bitterness, then, that reproof be +without invective. But in complacency--for I am ready to use the word +which Terence furnishes--let pleasing truth be told, let flattery, the +handmaid of the vices be put far away, as unworthy, not only of a +friend, but of any man above the condition of a slave, for there is one +way of living with a tyrant, another with a friend. We may well despair +of saving him whose ears are so closed to the truth that he cannot hear +what is true from a friend. Among the many pithy sayings of Cato was +this 'There are some who owe more to their bitter enemies than to the +friends that seem sweet, for those often tell the truth, these never'. +It is indeed ridiculous for those who are admonished not to be annoyed +by what ought to trouble them, and to be annoyed by what ought to give +them no offence. Their faults give them no pain, they take it hard that +they are reproved,--while they ought, on the contrary, to be grieved for +their wrong-doing, to rejoice in their correction. + +25 As, then, it belongs to friendship both to admonish and to be +admonished, and to do the former freely, yet not harshly, to receive the +latter patiently not resentfully, so it is to be maintained that +friendship has no greater pest than adulation, flattery, subserviency, +for under its many names [Footnote: Latin _multis nominibus,_ which some +commentators render "on many accounts" with reference to matters of +purchase and sale, debit and credit. But I think that Cicero brings in +_adulatio, blanditia, and assentatio,_ as so many synonyms of +_obsequtum,_ intending to comprehend in his indictment whatever alias +the one vice may assume.] a brand should be put on this vice of fickle +and deceitful men, who say everything with the view of giving pleasure, +without any reference to the truth. While simulation is bad on every +account, inasmuch as it renders the discernment of the truth which it +defaces impossible, it is most of all inimical to friendship; for it is +fatal to sincerity, without which the name of friendship ceases to have +any meaning. For since the essence of friendship consists in this, that +one mind is, as it were, made out of seveial, how can this be, if in one +of the several there shall be not always one and the same mind, but a +mind varying, changeful, manifold? And what can be so flexible, so far +out of its rightful course, as the mind of him who adapts himself, not +only to the feelings and wishes, but een to the look and gesture, of +another? + + +"Does one say No or Yes? I say so too My rule is to assent to +everything," + +as Terence, whom I have just quoted, says, but he says it in the person +of Gnatho,[Footnote: A parasite in Terence's play of _Eunuchus_, from +which these verses are quoted.]--a sort of friend which only a frivolous +mind can tolerate. But as there are many like Gnatho, who stand higher +than he did in place, fortune, and reputation, then subserviency is the +more offensive, because then position gives weight to their falsehood. + +But a flattering friend may be distinguished and discriminated from a +true friend by proper care, as easily as everything disguised and +feigned is seen to differ from what is genuine and real. The assembly of +the people, though consisting of persons who have the least skill in +judgment, yet always knows the difference between him who, merely +seeking popularity, is sycophantic and fickle, and a firm inflexible, +and substantial citizen. With what soft words did Caius Papirius +[Footnote: Caius Papirius Carbo, the suspected murderer of Scipio.] +steal [Footnote: Latin _influebat_ flowed in, a figure beautifully +appropriate, but hardly translatable.] into the ears of the assembly a +little while ago, when he brought forward the law about the re-election +of the tribunes of the people! [Footnote: There was an old law, which +prohibited the re-election of a citizen to the same office till after an +interval of ten years. In the law here referred to, Carbo--then tribune +--sought to provide for the re-election of tribunes as soon and as often +as the people might choose, thus undoubtedly hoping to secure for +himself a permanent tenure of office.] I opposed the law. But, to say +nothing of myself, I will rather speak of Scipio. How great, ye immortal +gods, was his dignity of bearing! What majesty of address! So that you +might easily call him the leader of the Roman people, rather than one of +their number. But you were there, and you have copies of his speech. +Thus the law was rejected by vote of the people. But, to return to +myself, you remember, when Quintus Maximus, Scipio's brother, and Lucius +Mancinus were Consuls, how much the people seemed to favor the law of +Caius Licinius Crassus about the priests. The law proposed to transfer +the election of priests from their own respective colleges to the +suffrage of the people; [Footnote: The several pontifical colleges had +been close corporations, filling their own vacancies. The law which +Laelius defeated proposed transferring the election of priests to the +people.] and he on that occasion introduced the custom of facing the +people in addressing them [Footnote: It had been customary, when the +Senate was in session, for him who harangued the people to face the +temple where the Senate sat, thus virtually recognizing the supreme +authority of that body.] Yet under my advocacy the religion of the +immortal gods obtained the ascendancy over his plausible speech. That +was during my praetorship, five years before I was chosen Consul. Thus +the cause was gained by its own merits rather than by official +authority. + +26. But if on the stage, or--what is the same thing--in the assembly of +the people, in which there is ample scope for false and distorted +representations, the truth only needs to be made plain and clear in +order for it to prevail, what ought to be the case in friendship, which +is entirely dependent for its value on truth,--in which unless, as the +phrase is, you see an open bosom and show your own, you can have nothing +worthy of confidence, nothing of which you can feel certain, not even +the fact of your loving or being loved, since you are ignorant of what +either really is? Yet this flattery of which I have spoken, harmful as +it is, can injure only him who takes it in and is delighted with it. +Thus it is the case that he is most ready to open his ear to flattery, +who flatters himself and finds supreme delight in himself. Virtue indeed +loves itself; for it has thorough knowledge of itself, and understands +how worthy of love it is. But it is reputed, not real, virtue of which I +am now speaking; for there are not so many possessed of virtue as there +are that desire to seem virtuous. These last are delighted with +flattery, and when false statements are framed purposely to satisfy and +please them, they take the falsehood as valid testimony to their merit. +That, however, is no friendship, in which one of the (so-called) friends +does not want to hear the truth, and the other is ready to lie. The +flattery of parasites on the stage would not seem amusing, were there +not in the play braggart soldiers [Footnote: Latin, _milites gloriosi. +Miles Gloriosus_ is the title of one of the comedies of Plautus; and one +of the stock characters of the ancient comedy is a conceited, +swaggering, brainless soldier, who is perpetually boasting of his own +valor and exploits, and who takes the most fulsome and ridiculous +flattery as the due recognition of his transcendent merit. The verse +here quoted is from Terence's _Eunuchus_. Thraso, a _miles gloriosus_ +(from whom is derived our adjective _thrasonical_), asks this question +of Gnatho, the parasite, one of whose speeches is quoted in S 25. +_Magnus_ is the word in the question; _ingentes_, in the answer.] to be +flattered. + + +"Great thanks indeed did Thais render to me?" + +"Great" was a sufficient answer; but the answer in the play is +"Prodigious." The flatterer always magnifies what he whom he is aiming +to please wishes to have great. But while this smooth falsehood takes +effect only with those who themselves attract and invite it; even +persons of a more substantial and solid character need to be warned to +be on their guard, lest they be ensnared by flattery of a more cunning +type. No one who has a moderate share of common-sense fails to detect +the open flatterer; but great care must be taken lest the wily and +covert flatterer may insinuate himself; for he is not very easily +recognized, since he often assents by opposing, plays the game of +disputing in a smooth, caressing way, and at length submits, and suffers +himself to be outreasoned, so as to make him on whom he is practising +his arts appear to have had the deeper insight. But what is more +disgraceful than to be made game of? One must take heed not to put +himself in the condition of the character in the play of _The Heiress:_ +[Footnote: _Epicleros_, a comedy by Caecilius Statius, of whose works +only a few fragments, like this, are extant. Next to the braggart +soldier, a credulous old man-generally a father-who could have all +manner of tricks played upon him without detecting their import, was the +favorite butt for ridicule in the ancient comedy.] + + +"Of an old fool one never made such sport As you have made of me this +very day;" + + +for there is no character on the stage so foolish as that of these +unwary and credulous old men. But I know not how my discourse has +digressed from the friendships of perfect, that is, of wise men,--wise, +I mean, so far as wisdom can fall to the lot of man,--to friendships of +a lighter sort. Let us then return to our original subject, and bring it +to a speedy conclusion. + + +27. Virtue, I say to you, Caius Fannius, and to you, Quintus Mucius,-- +virtue both forms and preserves friendships. In it is mutual agreement; +in it is stability; in it is consistency of conduct and character. When +it has put itself forth and shown its light, and has seen and recognized +the same light in another, it draws near to that light, and receives in +return what the other has to give; and from this intercourse love, or +friendship,--call it which you may,--is kindled. These terms are equally +derived in our language from loving; [Footnote: +_Amor_..._amicitia_..._ab amando_.] and to love is nothing else than to +cherish affection for him whom you love, with no felt need of his +service, with no quest of benefit to be obtained from him; while, +nevertheless, serviceableness blooms out from friendship, however little +you may have had it in view. With this affection I in my youth loved +those old men,--Lucius Paulus, Marcus Cato, Caius Gallus, Publius +Nasica, Tiberius Gracchus, the father-in-law of my friend Scipio. This +relation is more conspicuous among those of the same age, as between +myself and Scipio, Lucius Furius, Publius Rupilius, Spurius Mummius. But +in my turn, as an old man, I find repose in the attachment of young men, +as in yours, and in that of Quintus Tubero, and I am delighted with the +intimacy of Publius Rutilius and Aulus Virginius, who are just emerging +from boyhood. While the order of human life and of nature is such that +another generation must come upon the stage, it would be most desirable, +could such a thing be, to reach the goal, so to speak, with those of our +own age with whom we started on the race; but since man's life is frail +and precarious, we ought always to be in quest of some younger persons +whom we may love, and who will love us in return; for when love and +kindness cease all enjoyment is taken out of life. + +For me indeed, Scipio, though suddenly snatched away, still lives and +will always live; for I loved the virtue of the man, which is not +extinguished. Nor does it float before my eyes only, as I have always +had it at hand; it will also be renowned and illustrious with +generations to come. No one will ever enter with courage and hope on a +high and noble career, without proposing to himself as a standard the +memory and image of his virtue. Indeed, of all things which fortune or +nature ever gave me, I have nothing that I can compare with the +friendship of Scipio. In this there was a common feeling as to the +affairs of the State; in this, mutual counsel as to our private +concerns; in this, too, a repose full of delight. Never, so far as I +know, did I offend him in the least thing; never did I hear from him a +word which I would not wish to hear. We had one home; [Footnote: This +may refer to their living together on their campaigns, journeys, and +rural sojourns; but more probably to the fact that each felt as much at +home in the other's house as in his own.] the same diet, and that +simple; [Footnote: Latin, _communis_. I do not find that this word has +in Latin the sense of _cheap_ and _mean_ which our word _common_ has. +But here it cannot mean that Laelius and Scipio fed together, which is +sufficiently said in the preceding _idem victus_. It must therefore +denote such fare as was common to them with their fellow-citizens in +general, and that is simple and not luxurious fare.] we were together, +not only in military service, but also in journeying and in our rural +sojourns. And what shall I say of our unflagging zeal in the pursuit of +knowledge, and in learning everything now within our reach,--an +employment in which, when not under the eyes of the public, we passed +all our leisure time together? Had the recollection and remembrance of +these things died with him, I could not anyhow bear the loss of a man, +thus bound to me in the closest intimacy and holding me in the dearest +love. But they are not blotted out, they are rather nourished and +increased by reflection and memory; and were I entirely bereft of them, +my advanced age would still be my great comfort, for I can miss his +society but for a brief season, and all sorrows, however heavy, if they +can last but a little while, ought to be endured. + +I had these things to say to you about friendship; and I exhort you that +you so give the foremost place to virtue without which friendship cannot +be, that with the sole exception of virtue, you may think nothing to be +preferred to friendship. + + +SCIPIO'S DREAM. + + +1. When I arrived in Africa, to serve, as you know, in the office of +military Tribune of the fourth Legion, under Manius [Footnote: The +praenomen _Marcus_ is given to Manilius in the manuscript of the _De +Republics_ discovered by Angelo Mai; but Manius is the reading in all +previous authorities as to this special fragment.] Manilius as consul, I +desired nothing so much as to meet Masinissa [Footnote: King of +Numidia,--a country nearly identical in extent with the present province +of Algeria. Its name defines its people, being derived from [Greek: +nomades], _nomads._ Its inhabitants were a wild, semi-savage cluster of +tribes, black and white. Masinissa, though faithful to the Romans after +he had convinced himself that theirs must be the ascendant star, was a +crafty, treacherous, cruel prince, probably with enough of civilization +to have acquired some of its vices, while he had not lost those of the +savage.] the king, who for sufficient reasons [Footnote: The elder +Africanus had confirmed him in the possession of his own Numidia, and +had added to it the adjoining kingdom of Cirta.] stood in the most +friendly relation to our family. When I came to him, the old man +embraced me with tears, and shortly afterward looked up to heaven and +said: "I thank thee, sovereign Sun, [Footnote: The Numidians worshipped +the heavenly bodies.] and all of you lesser lights of heaven, that +before I pass away from this life I behold in my kingdom and beneath +this roof Publius Cornelius Scipio, whose very name renews my strength, +so utterly inseparable from my thought is the memory of that best and +most invincible of men who first bore it." Then I questioned him about +his kingdom, and he asked me about our republic; and with the many +things that we had to communicate to each other, the day wore away. + +At a later hour, after an entertainment of royal magnificence, we +prolonged our conversation far into the night, while the old man talked +to me about nothing else but Africanus, rehearsing not only all that he +had done, but all that he had said. When we parted to go to our rest, +sleep took a stronger hold on me than usual, on account both of the +fatigue of my journey and of the lateness of the hour. In my sleep, I +suppose in consequence of our conversation (for generally our thoughts +and utterances by day have in our sleep an effect like that which Ennius +describes in his own case as to Homer, [Footnote: The first verse of the +_Annales_ of Ennius was:-- + +"In somnis mihi visus Homerus adesse poeta."] + +about whom in his waking hours he was perpetually thinking and talking), +Africanus appeared to me, with an aspect that reminded me more of his +bust than of his real face. I shuddered when I saw him. But he said: +"Preserve your presence of mind, Scipio; be not afraid, and commit to +memory what I shall say to you. + +2. "Do you see that city, which was brought through me into subjection +to the Roman people, but now renews its old hostility, and cannot remain +quiet,"--and he showed me Carthage from a high place full of stars, +shining and splendid,--"against which you, being little more than a +common soldier, are coming to fight? In two years from now you as Consul +will overthrow this city, and you will obtain of your own right the +surname which up to this time you hold as inherited from me. When you +shall have destroyed Carthage, shall have celebrated your triumph over +it, shall have been Censor, and shall have traversed, as an ambassador, +Egypt, Syria, Asia, and Greece, you will be chosen a second time Consul +in your absence, and will put an end to one of the greatest of wars by +extirpating Numantia. But when you shall be borne to the Capitol in your +triumphal chariot after this war, you will find the State disturbed by +the machinations of my grandson. [Footnote: Tiberius Gracchus, whose +mother, Cornelia, was the daughter of the elder Africanus.] + +"In this emergency, Africanus, it will behoove you to show your country +the light of your energy, genius, and wisdom. But I see at that time, as +it were, a double way of destiny. For when your age shall have followed +the sun for eight times seven revolutions, and these two numbers +[Footnote: The Pythagoreans regarded seven as the number representing +light, and eight as representing love. Seven was also a perfect number, +as corresponding to the number of celestial orbits (including the sun, +the moon, and the five known planets), the number of days in the quarter +of the moon's revolution, and the number of the gates of sense (so to +speak), mouth, eyes, ears, and nostrils. Eight was a perfect number, as +being first after unity on the list of cubes; and Plato in the _Timaeus_ +speaks of eight celestial revolutions--including that of the earth--as +unequal in duration and velocity, but as forming, in some unexplained +way, a cycle synchronous with the year.]--each perfect, though for +different reasons--shall have completed for you in the course of nature +the destined period, to you alone and to your name the whole city will +turn; on you the Senate will look, on you all good citizens, on you the +allies, on you the Latini. You will he the one man on whom the safety of +the city will rest; and, to say no more, you, as Dictator, must re- +establish the State, if you escape the impious hands of your kindred." +[Footnote: See _De Amicitia_ S 3, note.] Here, when Laelius had cried +out, and the rest of the company had breathed deep sighs, Scipio, +smiling pleasantly upon them, said, "I beg you not to rouse me from +sleep and break up my vision. Hear the remainder of it." + +3. "But that you, Africanus, may be the more prompt in the defence of +the State, know that for all who shall have preserved, succored, +enlarged their country, there is a certain and determined place in +heaven where they enjoy eternal happiness; for to the Supreme God who +governs this whole universe nothing is more pleasing than those +companies and unions of men that are called cities. Of these the rulers +and preservers, going hence, return hither." + +Here I, although I had been alarmed, not indeed so much by the fear of +death as by that of the treachery of my own kindred, yet asked whether +Paulus, my father, and others whom we supposed to be dead were living. +"Yes, indeed," he replied, "those who have fled from the bonds of the +body, like runners from the goal, live; while what is called your life +is death. But do you see your father Paulus coming to you?" When I saw +him, I shed a flood of tears; but he, embracing and kissing me, forbade +my weeping. + +Then as soon as my tears would suffer me to speak, I began by saying, +"Most sacred and excellent father, since this is life, as Africanus +tells me, why do I remain on the earth, and not rather hasten to come to +you?" "Not so," said he; "for unless the God who has for his temple all +that you now behold, shall have freed you from this prison of the body, +there can be no entrance for you hither. Men have indeed been brought +into being on this condition, that they should guard the globe which you +see in the midst of this temple, which is called the earth; and a soul +has been given to them from those eternal fires which you call +constellations and stars, which, globed and round, animated with god- +derived minds, complete their courses and move through their orbits with +amazing speed. You, therefore, Publius, and all rightly disposed men are +bound to retain the soul in the body's keeping, nor without the command +of him who gave it to you to depart from the life appointed for man, +lest you may seem to have taken flight from human duty as assigned by +God. But, Scipio, like this your grandfather, [Footnote: By adoption. +The younger Africanus was adopted by a son of the elder.] like me, your +father, cherish justice and that sacred observance of duty to your kind, +which, while of great worth toward parents and family, is of supreme +value toward your country. Such a life is the way to heaven, and to this +assembly of those who have already lived, and, released from the body, +inhabit the place which you now see,"--it was that circle that shines +forth among the stars in the most dazzling white,--"which you have +learned from the Greeks to call the Milky Way." And as I looked on every +side I saw other things transcendently glorious and wonderful. There +were stars which we never see from here below, and all the stars were +vast far beyond what we have ever imagined. The least of them was that +which, farthest from heaven, nearest to the earth, shone with a borrowed +light. But the starry globes very far surpassed the earth in magnitude. +The earth itself indeed looked to me so small as to make me ashamed of +our empire, which was a mere point on its surface. + +4. While I was gazing more intently on the earth, Africanus said: "How +long, I pray you, will your mind be fastened on the ground? Do you not +see into the midst of what temples you have come? In your sight are nine +orbs, or rather globes, by which all things are held together. One is +the celestial, the outermost, embracing all the rest,--the Supreme God +himself, [Footnote: Here crops out the Pantheism--the non-detachment or +semi-detachment of God from nature--which casts a penumbra around +monotheism and the approaches to it, almost always, except under Hebrew +and Christian auspices.] who governs and keeps in their places the other +spheres. In this are fixed those stars which ever roll in an unchanging +course. Beneath this are seven spheres which have a retrograde movement, +opposite to that of the heavens. One of these is the domain of the star +which on earth they call Saturn. Next is the luminary which bears the +name of Jupiter, of prosperous and healthful omen to the human race; +then, the star of fiery red which you call Mars, and which men regard +with terror. Beneath, the Sun holds nearly the midway space, [Footnote: +The middle, as the fifth of the nine spheres, enclosed by four; and +enclosing four.] leader, prince, and ruler of the other lights, the mind +and regulating power of the universe, so vast as to illuminate and flood +all things with his light. Him, as his companions, Venus and Mercury +follow on their different courses; and in a sphere still lower the moon +revolves, lighted by the rays of the sun. Beneath this there is nothing +that is not mortal and perishable, except the souls bestowed upon the +human race by the gift of the gods. Above the moon all things are +eternal. The earth, which is the central and ninth sphere, has no +motion, and is the lowest [Footnote: The lowest because central, and +therefore farthest from the outermost or celestial sphere.] of all, and +all heavy bodies gravitate spontaneously toward it." + +5. When I had recovered from my amazement at these things I asked, "What +is this sound so strong and so sweet that fills my ears?" "This," he +replied, "is the melody which, at intervals unequal, yet differing in +exact proportions, is made by the impulse and motion of the spheres +themselves, which, softening shriller by deeper tones, produce a +diversity of regular harmonies. Nor can such vast movements be urged on +in silence; and by the order of nature the shriller notes sound from one +extreme of the universe, the deeper from the other. Thus yonder supreme +celestial sphere with its clustered stars, as it revolves more rapidly, +moves with a shrill and quick strain; this lower sphere of the moon +sends forth deeper notes; while the earth, the ninth sphere, remaining +motionless, [Footnote: Therefore without sound. ] always stands fixed in +the lowest place, occupying the centre of the universe. But these eight +revolutions, of which two, those of Mercury and Venus, are in unison, +make seven distinct tones, with measured intervals between, and almost +all things are arranged in sevens. [Footnote: Latin, _qui numerus_ (that +is, _septem_) _rerum omnium fere nodus est_. Literally, "which number is +the knot of almost everything." The more intelligible form in which I +have rendered these words seems to me to convey their true meaning, and +my belief to that effect is confirmed by reading what several +commentators say about the passage.] Skilled men, copying this harmony +with strings and voice, have opened for themselves a way back to this +place, as have others who with excelling genius have cultivated divine +sciences in human life. But the ears of men are deafened by being filled +with this melody; nor is there in you mortals a duller sense than that +of hearing. As where the Nile at the Falls of Catadupa pours down from +the loftiest mountains, the people who live hard by lack the sense of +hearing because of the loudness of the cataract, so this harmony of the +whole universe in its intensely rapid movement is so loud that men's +ears cannot take it in, even as you cannot look directly at the sun, and +the keenness and visual power of the eye are overwhelmed by its rays." +While I marvelled at these things, I ever and anon cast my eyes again +upon the earth. + +6. Then Africanus said: "I perceive that you are now fixing your eyes on +the abode and home of men, and if it seems to you small, as it really +is, then look always at these heavenly things, and despise those +earthly. For what reputation from the speech of men, or what fame worth +seeking, can you obtain? You see that the inhabited places of the earth +are scattered and of small extent, that in the spots [Footnote: Latin, +_maculis_,--a figure so bold in Cicero's time as to need an apology for +its use, but now employed with no consciousness of its being otherwise +than strictly literal.]--so to speak--where men dwell there are vast +solitary tracts interposed, and that those who live on the earth are not +only so separated that no communication can pass from place to place, +but stand, in part at an oblique angle, in part at a right angle with +you, in part even in an opposite direction; [Footnote: It hardly needs +to be said, that the reference here is to the convex surface of the +earth, on which those remote from one another may hold all the various +angles to each other that are borne by the spokes of a wheel.] and from +these you certainly can anticipate no fame. + +"You perceive also that this same earth is girded and surrounded by +belts, two of which--the farthest from each other, and each resting at +one extremity on the very pole of the heavens--you see entirely frost- +bound; while the middle and largest of them burns under the sun's +intensest heat. Two of them are habitable, of which the southern, whose +inhabitants are your antipodes, bears no relation to your people; and +see how small a part they occupy in this other northern zone, in which +you dwell. For all of the earth with which you have any concern--narrow +at the north and south, broader in its central portion--is a mere little +island, surrounded by that sea which you on earth call the Atlantic, the +Great Sea, the Ocean, while yet, with such a name, you see how small it +is. To speak only of these cultivated and well-known regions, could your +name even cross this Caucasus which you have in view, or swim beyond +that Ganges? Who, in what other lands may lie in the extreme east or +west, or under northern or southern skies, will ever hear your name? All +these cut off, you surely see within what narrow bounds your fame can +seek to spread. Then, too, as regards the very persons who tell of your +renown, how long will they speak of it? + +7. "But even if successive generations should desire to transmit the +praise of every one of us from father to son in unbroken succession, yet +because of devastations by flood and fire, which will of necessity take +place at a determined time, we must fail of attaining not only eternal +fame, but even that of very long duration. Now of what concern is it +that those who shall be born hereafter should speak of you, when you +were spoken of by none who were born before you, who were not fewer, and +certainly were better men?--especially, too, when among those who might +hear our names there is not one that can retain the memories of a single +year. Men, indeed, ordinarily measure the year only by the return of the +sun, that is, one star, to its place; but when all the stars, after long +intervals, shall resume their original places in the heavens, then that +completed revolution may be truly called a year. As of old the sun +seemed to be eclipsed and blotted out when the soul of Romulus entered +these temples, so when the sun shall be again eclipsed in the same part +of his course, and at the same period of the year and day, with all the +constellations and stars recalled to the point from which they started +on their revolutions, then count the year as brought to a close. +[Footnote: The Stoics maintained that the visible universe would last +through such a cycle as is here described, which in their conjectural +astronomy comprehended many thousands of years, and then would be +consumed by fire, or somehow be reduced to chaos, and a new universe +take its place.] But be assured that the twentieth part of this year has +not yet come round. + +"Therefore, should you renounce the hope of returning to this place in +which are all things that great and excellent men can desire, of what +worth is that human glory which can scarcely extend to a small part of a +single year? If, then, you shall determine to look high up, and to +behold continuously this dwelling and eternal home, you will neither +give yourself to the flattery of the people, nor place your hope of +well-being on rewards that man can bestow. Let Virtue herself by her own +charms draw you to true honor. What others may say of you, regard as +their concern, not yours. They will doubtless talk about you, but all +that they say is confined within the narrow limits of the regions which +you now see; nor did such speech as to any one ever last on into +eternity,--it is buried with those who die, and lost in oblivion for +those who may come afterward." + +8. When he had spoken thus, I said, "O Africanus, if indeed for those +who have deserved well of their country there is, as it were, an open +road by which they may enter heaven, though from boyhood treading in my +father's steps and yours, I have done no discredit to your fame, I yet +shall now strive to that end with a more watchful diligence." And he +replied: "Strive [Footnote: Or, you will strive indeed.] indeed, and +bear this in mind, that it is not you that are mortal, but your body +only. Nor is it you whom this outward form makes manifest; but every +man's mind is he,--not the bodily shape which can be pointed at by the +finger. Know also that you are a god, if he indeed is a god who lives, +who perceives, who remembers, who foresees, who governs and restrains +and moves the body over which he is made ruler even as the Supreme God +holds the universe under his sway; and in truth as the eternal God +himself moves the universe which is mortal in every part, so does the +everlasting soul move the corruptible body. + +"That, indeed, which is in perpetual movement is eternal; but that +which, while imparting motion to some other substance, derives its own +movement from some other source, must of necessity cease to live when it +ceases to move. Then that alone which is the cause of its own motion, +because it is never deserted by itself, never has its movement +suspended. But for other substances that are moved this is the source, +the first cause, [Footnote: Latin, _principium_.] of movement. But the +first cause has no origin; for all things spring from the first cause: +itself, from nothing. That indeed would not be a first cause which +derived its beginning from anything else; and if it has no beginning, it +never ceases to be. For the first cause, if extinct, will neither itself +be born again from aught else, nor will it create aught else from +itself, if indeed all things must of necessity originate from the first +cause. Thus it is that the first cause of motion is derived from that +which is in its nature self-moving; but this can neither be born nor +die. Were it to die, the whole heaven would of necessity collapse, and +all nature would stand still, nor could it find any force which could be +set in movement anew from a primitive impulse. [Footnote: From a first +cause; the first cause, by hypothesis, having ceased to be.] + +9. "Since, then, that which is the source of its own movement is +manifestly eternal, who is there that can deny that this nature has been +given to the soul? For whatever is moved by external impulse is +soulless; [Footnote: Latin, _inanimum._] but whatever has a soul +[Footnote: Latin, _animal._ My renderings of _inanimum_ and _animal_ +here, if not justified by any parallel instances (and I know not whether +they are), are required by the obvious meaning of the sentence.] is +stirred to action by movement inward and its own; for this is the +peculiar nature and virtue of the soul. Moreover, if it is this alone of +all things that is the source of its own movement, it certainly did not +begin to be, and is eternal. "This soul I bid you to exercise in the +best pursuits, and the best are your cares for your country's safety, by +which if your soul be kept in constant action and exercise, it will have +the more rapid flight to this its abode and home. This end it will +attain the more readily, if, while it shall be shut up in the body, it +shall peer forth, and, contemplating those things that are beyond, +abstract itself as far as possible from the body. For the souls of those +who have surrendered themselves to the pleasures of the body, have +yielded themselves to their service, and, obeying them under the impulse +of sensual lusts, have transgressed the laws of gods and men, when they +pass out of their bodies are tossed to and fro around the earth, nor +return to this place till they have wandered in banishment for many +ages." + +He departed; I awoke from sleep. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream +by Marcus Tullius Ciceronis + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DE AMICITIA, SCIPIO'S DREAM *** + +This file should be named 7amsc10.txt or 7amsc10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7amsc11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7amsc10a.txt + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Charles Franks +& the Distributed Proofreaders Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/7amsc10.zip b/old/7amsc10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d4943e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7amsc10.zip diff --git a/old/8amsc10.txt b/old/8amsc10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c16df62 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8amsc10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2863 @@ +Project Gutenberg's De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream, by Marcus Tullius Ciceronis + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream + +Author: Marcus Tullius Ciceronis + +Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7491] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 10, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DE AMICITIA, SCIPIO'S DREAM *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Charles Franks +& the Distributed Proofreaders Team + + + + +[Illustration: MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO] + +De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream + +By Cicero + + +Translated, with an Introduction and Notes + +By Andrew P. Peabody + + + +SYNOPSIS. + +* * * * * + +DE AMICITIA + +1. Introduction. + +2. Reputation of Laelius for wisdom. The curiosity to know how he bore +the death of Scipio. + +3. His grounds of consolation in his bereavement + +4. He expresses his faith in immortality. Desires perpetual memory in +this world of the friendship between himself and Scipio. + +5. True friendship can exist only among good men. + +6. Friendship defined. + +7. Benefits derived from friendship. + +8. Friendship founded not on need, but on nature. + +9. The relation of utility to friendship. + +10. Causes for the separation of friends. + +11. How far love for friends may go. + +12. Wrong never to be done at a friend's request. + +13. Theories that degrade friendship + +14. How friendships are formed. + +15. Friendlessness wretched. + +16. The limits of friendship. + +17. In what sense and to what degree friends are united. How friends are +to be chosen and tested. + +18. The qualities to be sought in a friend. + +19. Old friends not to be forsaken for new. + +20. The duties of friendship between persons differing in ability, rank, +or position. + +21. How friendships should be dissolved, and how to guard against the +necessity of dissolving them. + +22. Unreasonable expectations of friends. Mutual respect necessary in +true friendship. + +23. Friendship necessary for all men. + +24. Truth-telling, though it often gives offence, an essential duty from +friend to friend. + +25. The power of truth. The arts of flattery. + +26. Flattery availing only with the feeble-minded. + +27. Virtue the soul of friendship. Laelius describes the intimacy of the +friendship between himself and Scipio. + + +* * * * * + + +SCIPIO'S DREAM. + +1. Scipio's visit to Masinissa. Circumstances under which the dream +occurred. + +2. Appearance of the elder Africanus, and of his own father, to Scipio. +Prophecy of Scipio's successes and honors, with an intimation of his +death by the hands of his kindred. + +3. Conditions on which heaven may be won. + +4. The nine spheres that constitute the universe. + +5. The music of the spheres. + +6. The five zones of the earth. + +7. Brevity and worthlessness of earthly fame. + +8. All souls eternal. + +9. The soul to be trained for immortality. The fate of those who merge +their souls in sense. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +DE AMICITIA. + +The _De Amicitia_, inscribed, like the _De Senectute_, to Atticus, was +probably written early in the year 44 B.C., during Cicero's retirement, +after the death of Julius Caesar and before the conflict with Antony. +The subject had been a favorite one with Greek philosophers, from whom +Cicero always borrowed largely, or rather, whose materials he made +fairly his own by the skill, richness, and beauty of his elaboration, +Some passages of this treatise were evidently suggested by Plato; and +Aulus Gellius says that Cicero made no little use of a now lost essay of +Theophrastus on Friendship. + +In this work I am especially impressed by Cicero's dramatic power. But +for the mediocrity of his poetic genius, he might have won pre-eminent +honor from the Muse of Tragedy. He here so thoroughly enters into the +feelings of Laelius with reference to Scipio's death, that as we read we +forget that it is not Laelius himself who is speaking. We find ourselves +in close sympathy with him, as if he were telling us the story of his +bereavement, giving utterance to his manly fortitude and resignation and +portraying his friend's virtues from the unfading image phototyped on +his own loving memory. In other matters too Cicero goes back to the time +of Laelius and assumes his point of view assigning to him just the +degree of foresight which he probably possessed and making not the +slightest reference to the very different aspect in which he himself had +learned to regard and was wont to represent the personages and events of +that earlier period. Thus while Cicero traced the downfall of the +republic to changes in the body politic that had taken place or were +imminent and inevitable when Scipio died he makes Laelius perceive only +a slight though threatening deflection from what had been in the earlier +time [Footnote 1]. So too though Cicero was annoyed more than by almost +any other characteristic of his age by the prevalence of the Epicurean +philosophy and ascribed to it in a very large degree the demoralization +of men in public life with Laelius the doctrines of this school are +represented as they must have been in fact as new and unfamiliar. In +time Laelius is here made to say not a word which he being the man that +he was and at the date assumed for this dialogue might not have said +himself; and it may be doubted whether a report of one of his actual +conversations would have seemed more truly genuine. + +This is a rare gift often sought indeed yet sought in vain not only by +dramatists who have very [Footnote 1 _Deflexit jam aliquantul im_] +seldom attained it but by authors of a very great diversity of type and +culture. One who undertakes to personate a character belonging to an age +not his own hardly ever fails of manifest anachronisms. The author finds +it utterly impossible to fit the antique mask so closely as not now and +then to show through its chinks his own more modern features, while this +form of internal evidence never fails to betray an intended forgery +however skilfully wrought. On the other hand there is no surer proof of +the genuineness ot a work purporting to be of an earlier but alleged to +be of a later origin than the absence of all tokens of a time subsequent +to the earliest date claimed for it. [Footnote: Thus among the many +proofs of the genuineness of our canonical Gospels perhaps none is more +conclusive than the fact that though evidently written by unskilled men +they contain not a trace or token of certain opinions known to have been +rife even before the close of the first Christian century; while the (so +called) apocryphal Gospels bear, throughout, such vestiges of their +later origin as would neutralize the strongest testimony imaginable in +behalf of their primitive antiquity.] + +In connection with this work it should be borne in mind that the special +duties of friendship constituted an essential department of ethics in +the ancient world and that the relation of friend to friend was regarded +as on the same plane with that of brother to brother. No treatise on +morals would have been thought complete had this subject been omitted. +Not a few modern writers have attempted the formal treatment of +friendship but while the relation of kindred minds and souls has lost +none of its sacredness and value, the establishment of a code of rules +for it ignores on the one hand the spontaneity of this relation, and on +the other hand, its entire amenableness to the laws and principles that +should restrict and govern all human intercourse and conduct. + +Shaftesbury, in his 'Characteristics,' in his exquisite vein of irony +sneers at Christianity for taking no cognizance of friendship either in +its precepts or in its promises. Jeremy Taylor, however, speaks of this +feature of Christianity as among the manifest tokens of its divine +origin, and Soame Jenyns takes the same ground in a treatise expressly +designed to meet the objections and cavils of Shaftesbury and other +deistical writers of his time. These authors are all in the right and +all in the wrong, as to the matter of fact. There is no reason why +Christianity should prescribe friendship which is a privilege, not a +duty, or should essay to regulate it, for its only ethical rule of +strict obligation is the negative rule which would lay out for it a +track that shall never interfere with any positive duty selfward, +manward or Godward. But in the life of the Founder of Christianity, who +teaches, most of all, by example, friendship has its apogee,--its +supreme pre-eminence and honor. He treats his apostles and speaks of and +to them, not as mere disciples but as intimate and dearly beloved +friends, among these there are three with whom he stands in peculiarly +near relations, and one of the three was singled out by him in dying for +the most sacred charge that he left on the earth, while at the same time +that disciple shows in his Gospel that he had obtained an inside view so +to speak, of his Master's spiritual life and of the profounder sense of +his teachings which is distinguished by contrast rather than by +comparison from the more superficial narratives of the other +evangelists. + +But Christianity has done even more than this for friendship. It has +superseded its name by fulfilling its offices to a degree of perfectness +which had never entered into the ante-Christian mind. Man shrinks from +solitude. He feels inadequate to bear the burdens, meet the trials, and +wage the conflicts of this mortal life, alone. Orestes always needed and +craved a Pylades, but often failed to find one. This inevitable +yearning, when it met no human response found still less to satisfy it +in the objects of worship. Its gods, though in great part deified men, +could not be relied on for sympathy, support or help. The stronger +spirits did not believe in them, the feebler looked upon them only with +awe and dread. But Christianity, in its anthropomorphism, which is its +strongest hold on faith and trust, insures for the individual man in a +Divine Humanity precisely what friends might essay to do yet could do +but imperfectly for him. It proffers the tender sympathy and helpfulness +of Him who bears the griefs and carries the sorrows of each and all; +while the near view that it presents of the life beyond death inspires +the sense of unbroken union with friends in heaven, and of the fellow- +feeling of "a cloud of witnesses" beside. Thus while friendship in +ordinary life is never to be spurned when it may be had without +sacrifice of principle, it is less a necessity than when man's relations +with the unseen world gave no promise of strength, aid, or comfort. + +Experience has deepened my conviction that what is called a free +translation is the only fit rendering of Latin into English; that is, +the only way of giving to the English reader the actual sense of the +Latin writer. This last has been my endeavor. The comparison is, indeed, +exaggerated; but it often seems to me, in unrolling a compact Latin +sentence, as if I were writing out in words the meaning of an algebraic +formula. A single word often requires three or four as its English +equivalent. Yet the language is not made obscure by compression. On the +contrary, there is no other language in which it is so hard to bury +thought or to conceal its absence by superfluous verbiage. + +I have used Beier's edition of the _De Amicitia_, adhering to it in the +very few cases in which other good editions have a different reading. +There are no instances in which the various readings involve any +considerable diversity of meaning. + +LAELIUS. + +Caius Laelius Sapiens, the son of Caius Laelius, who was the life-long +friend of Scipio Africanus the Elder, was born B.C. 186, a little +earlier in the same year with his friend Africanus the Younger. He was +not undistinguished as a military commander, as was proved by his +successful campaign against Viriathus, the Lusitanian chieftain, who had +long held the Roman armies at bay, and had repeatedly gained signal +advantages over them. He was known in the State, at first as leaning, +though moderately and guardedly, to the popular side, but after the +disturbances created by the Gracchi, as a strong conservative. He was a +learned and accomplished man, was an elegant writer,--though while the +Latin tongue retained no little of its archaic rudeness,--and was +possessed of some reputation as an orator. Though bearing his part in +public affairs, holding at intervals the offices of Tribune, Praetor, +and Consul, and in his latter years attending with exemplary fidelity to +such duties as belonged to him as a member of the college of Augurs, he +yet loved retirement, and cultivated, so far as he was able, studious +and contemplative habits. He was noted for his wise economy of time. To +an idle man who said to him, "I have sixty years" [_Sexaginta annos +habeo._] (that is, I am sixty years old), he replied, "Do you mean the +sixty years which you have not?" His private life was worthy of all +praise for the virtues that enriched and adorned it; and its memory was +so fresh after the lapse of more than two centuries, that Seneca, who +well knew the better way which he had not always strength to tread, +advises his young friend Lucilius to "live with Laelius;" [_Vire cum +Laelio._] that is, to take his life as a model. + +The friendship of Laelius and the younger Scipio Africanus well deserves +the commemoration which it has in this dialogue of Cicero. It began in +their boyhood, and continued without interruption till Scipio's death. +Laelius served in Africa, mainly that he might not be separated from his +friend. To each other's home was as his own. They were of one mind as to +public men and measures, and in all probability the more pliant nature +of Laelius yielded in great measure to the stern and uncompromising +adherence of Scipio to the cause of the aristocracy. While they were +united in grave pursuits and weighty interests, we have the most +charming pictures of their rural and seaside life together, even of +their gathering shells on the shore, and of fireside frolics in which +they forgot the cares of the republic, ceased to be stately old Romans, +and played like children in vacation-time. + +FANNIUS. + +Caius Fannius Strabo in early life served with high reputation in +Africa, under the younger Africanus, and afterward in Spain, in the war +with Viriathus. Like his father-in-law, he was versed in the philosophy +of the Stoic school, under the tuition of Panaetius. He was an orator, +as were almost all the Romans who aimed at distinction; but we have no +reason to suppose that he in this respect rose above mediocrity. He +wrote a history, of which Cicero speaks well, and which Sallust commends +for its accuracy; but it is entirely lost, and we have no direct +information even as to the ground which it covered. It seems probable, +however, that it was a history either of the third of the Punic wars, or +of all of them; for Plutarch quotes from him--probably from his History +--the statement that he, Fannius, and Tiberius Gracchus were the first to +mount the walls of Carthage whent he city was taken. + +SCAEVOLA. + +Quintus Mucius Scaevola filled successively most of the important +offices of the State, and was for many years, and until death, a member +of the college of Augurs. He was eminent for his legal learning, and to +a late and infirm old age was still consulted in questions of law, never +refusing to receive clients at any moment after daylight. But while he +was regarded as foremost among the jurists of his time, he professed +himself less thoroughly versed in the laws relating to mortgages than +two of his coevals, to whom he was wont to send those who brought cases +of this class for his opinion or advice. He was remarkable for early +rising, constant industry, and undeviating punctuality,--at the meetings +of the Senate being always the first on the ground. + +No man held a higher reputation than Scaevola for rigid and scrupulous +integrity. It is related of him that when as a witness in court he had +given testimony full, clear, strong, and of the most damnatory character +against the person on trial, he protested against the conviction of the +defendant on his testimony, if not corroborated, on the principle, held +sacred in the Jewish law, that it would be a dangerous precedent to +suffer the issue of any case to depend on the intelligence and veracity +of a single witness. When, after Marius had been driven from the city, +Sulla asked the Senate to declare him by their vote a public enemy, +Scaevola stood in a minority of one; and when Sulla urged him to give +his vote in the affirmative, his reply was: "Although you show me the +military guard with which you have surrounded the Senate-house, although +you threaten me with death, yon will never induce me, for the little +blood still in an old man's veins, to pronounce Marius--who has been the +preserver of the city and of Italy--an enemy." + +His daughter married Lucius Licinius Crassus, who had such reverence tor +his father-in-law, that, when a candidate for the consulship, he could +not persuade himself in the presence of Scaevola to cringe to the +people, or to adopt any of the usual self-humiliating methods of +canvassing for the popular vote. + + + + + + +SCIPIO'S DREAM. + +PALIMPSESTS[Footnote: _Rubbed again_,--the parchment, or papyrus, having +been first polished for use, and then rubbed as clean as possible, to be +used a second time.]--the name and the thing--are at least as old as +Cicero. In one of his letters he banters his friend Trebatius for +writing to him on a palimpsest,[Footnote: _In palimpsesto_.] and marvels +what there could have been on the parchment which he wanted to erase. +This was a device probably resorted to in that age only in the way in +which rigid economists of our day sometimes utilize envelopes and +handbills. But in the dark ages, when classical literature was under a +cloud and a ban, and when the scanty demand for writing materials made +the supply both scanty and precarious, such manuscripts of profane +authors as fell into the hands of ecclesiastical copyists were not +unusually employed for transcribing the works of the Christian Fathers +or the lives of saints. In such cases the erasion was so clumsily +performed as often to leave distinct traces of the previous letters. The +possibility of recovering lost writings from these palimpsests was first +suggested by Montfaucon in the seventeenth century; but the earliest +successful experiment of the kind was made by Bruns, a German scholar, +in the latter part of the eighteenth, century. The most distinguished +laborer in this field has been Angelo Mai, who commenced his work in +1814 on manuscripts in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, of which he was +then custodian. Transferred to the Vatican Library at Rome, he +discovered there, in 1821, a considerable portion of Cicero's _De +Republica_, which had been obliterated, and replaced by Saint +Augustine's Commentary on the Psalms. This latter being removed by +appropriate chemical applications, large portions of the original +writing remained legible, and were promptly given to the public. + +This treatise Cicero evidently considered, and not without reason, as +his master-work. It was written in the prime of his mental vigor, in the +fifty-fourth year of his age, after ample experience in the affairs of +State, and while he still hoped, more than he feared for the future of +Rome. His object was to discuss in detail the principles and forms of +civil government, to define the grounds of preference for a republic +like that of Rome in its best days, and to describe the duties and +responsibilities of a good citizen, whether in public office or in +private life. He regarded this treatise, in its ethics, as his own +directory in the government of his province of Cilicia, and as binding +him, by the law of self-consistency, to unswerving uprightness and +faithfulness, He refers to these six books on the Republic as so many +hostages [Footnote: _Praedibus_.] for his uncorrupt integrity and +untarnished honor, and makes them his apology to Atticus for declining +to urge an extortionate demand on the city of Salamis. + +The work is in the form of Dialogues, in which, with several +interlocutors beside, the younger Africanus and Laelius are the chief +speakers; and it is characterized by the same traits of dramatic genius +to which I have referred in connection with the _De Amicitia_. + +The _De Republica_ was probably under interdict during the reigns of the +Augustan dynasty; men did not dare to copy it, or to have it known that +they possessed it; and when it might have safely reappeared, the +republic had faded even from regretful memory, and there was no desire +to perpetuate a work devoted to its service and honor. Thus the world +had lost the very one of all Cicero's writings for which he most craved +immortality. The portions of it which Mai has brought to light fully +confirm Cicero's own estimate of its value, and feed the earnest--it is +to be feared the vain--desire for the recovery of the entire work. + +Scipio's Dream, which, is nearly all that remains of the Sixth Book of +the _De Republica_, had survived during the interval for which the rest +of the treatise was lost to the world. Macrobius, a grammarian of the +fifth century, made it the text of a commentary of little present +interest or value, but much prized and read in the Middle Ages. The +Dream, independently of the commentary, has in more recent times passed +through unnumbered editions, sometimes by itself, sometimes with +Cicero's ethical writings, sometimes with the other fragments of the _De +Republica_. + +In the closing Dialogue of the _De Republica_ the younger Africanus +says: "Although to the wise the consciousness of noble deeds is a most +ample reward of virtue, yet this divine virtue craves, not indeed +statues that need lead to hold them to their pedestals, nor yet triumphs +graced by withering laurels, but rewards of firmer structure and more +enduring green." "What are these?" says Laelius. Scipio replies by +telling his dream. The time of the vision was near the beginning of the +Third Punic War, when Scipio, no longer in his early youth, was just +entering upon the career in which he gained pre-eminent fame, +thenceforward to know neither shadow nor decline. + +* * * * * + +I have used for Scipio's Dream, Creuzer and Moser's edition of the _De +Republica_. + + +CICERO DE AMICITIA + +* * * * * + +1 Quintus Mucius, the Augur, used to repeat from memory, and in the most +pleasant way, many of the sayings of his father-in-law Caius Laelius, +never hesitating to apply to him in all that he said his surname of The +Wise. When I first put on the robe of manhood [Footnote: In the earliest +time a boy put on the _toga virilis_ when he had completed his sixteenth +year, in Cicero's time pupilage ceased a year earlier and by Justinin's +code the period at which it legally ceased was the commencement of the +fifteenth year. The Scaevola to whom Cicero was thus taken was Quintus +Mucius (Scaevola) the Augur, already named.] my father took me to +Scaevola and so commended me to his kind offices, that thenceforward, so +far as was possible and fitting I kept my place at the old man's side. +[Footnote: It was customary for youth in training for honorable +positions in the State to attach themselves especially to men of +established character and reputation, to attend them to public places, +and to remain near them whenever anything w«as to be learned from their +conversation, their legal opinions, their public harangues, or their +pleas before the courts. Distinguished citizens deemed themselves +honored by a retinue of such attendants. Cicero, in the _De Officiis_, +says that a young man may best commend himself to the early esteem and +confidence of the community by such an intimacy.] I thus laid up in my +memory many of his elaborate discussions of important subjects, as well +as many of his utterances that had both brevity and point, and my +endeavor was to grow more learned by his wisdom. After his death I stood +in a similar relation to the high-priest Scaevola, [Footnote: As Cicero +says, the most eloquent of jurists, and the most learned jurist among +the eloquent. He was at the same time pre-eminent for moral purity and +integrity. It was he, who, as Cicero (_De Officiis_, iii. 15) relates, +insisted on paying for an estate that he bought a much larger sum than +was asked for it, because its price had been fixed far below its actual +value.] whom I venture to call the foremost man of our city both in +ability and in uprightness. But of him I will speak elsewhere. I return +to the Augur. While I recall many similar occasions, I remember in +particular that at a certain time when I and a few of his more intimate +associates were sitting with him in the semicircular apartment +[Footnote: Latin, _hemicyclio,_ perhaps, a semicircular seat.] in his +house where he was wont to receive his friends, the conversation turned +on a subject about which almost every one was then talking, and which +you, Atticus, certainly recollect, as you were much in the society of +Publius Sulpicius; namely, the intense hatred with which Sulpicius, when +Tribune of the people, opposed Quintus Pompeius, then Consul, [Footnote: +The quarrel arose from the zelous espousal of the Marian faction by +Sulpicius, who resorted to arms, in order to effect the incorporation of +the new citizens from without the city among the previously existing +tribes. Hence a series of tumults and conflicts, in one of which a son +of Pompeius lost his life.] with whom he had lived in the closest and +most loving union,--a subject of general surprise and regret. Having +incidentally mentioned this affair, Scaevola proceeded to give us the +substance of a conversation on friendship, which Laelius had with him +and his other son-in-law, Caius Fannius, the son of Marcus, a few days +after the death of Africanus. I committed to memory the sentiments +expressed in that discussion, and I bring them out in the book which I +now send you. I have put them into the form of a dialogue, to avoid the +too frequent repetition of "said I" and "says he," and that the +discussion may seem as if it were held in the hearing of those who read +it. While you, indeed, have often urged me to write something about +friendship, the subject seems to me one of universal interest, and at +the same time specially appropriate to our intimacy. I have therefore +been very ready to seek the profit of many by complying with your +request. But as in the _Cato Major_, the work on Old Age inscribed to +you, I introduced the old man Cato as leading the discussion, because +there seemed to be no other person better fitted to talk about old age +than one who had been an aged man so long, and in his age had been so +exceptionally vigorous, so, as we had heard from our fathers of the +peculiarly memorable intimacy of Caius Laelius and Publius Scipio, it +appeared appropriate to put into the mouth of Laelius what Scaevola +remembered as having been said by him when friendship was the subject in +on the authority of men of an earlier generation, and illustrious in +their time, seems somehow to be of specially commanding influence on the +reader's mind. Thus, as I read my own book on Old Age, I am sometimes so +affected that I feel as if not I, but Cato, were talking. But as I then +wrote as an old man to an old man about old age, so in this book I write +as the most loving of friends to a friend about friendship. [Footnote: +In the Latin we have here two remarkable series of assonances, +rhythmical to the ear, and though translatable in sense not so in +euphony. "Ut tum _senex_ ad _senem_ de _senectute,_ sic hoc libro ad +_amicum amicissimus_, de _amicitia_ scripsi."] Then Cato was the chief +speaker, than whom there was in his time scarcely any one older, and no +one his superior in intellect, now Laelius shall hold the first place, +both as a wise man (for so he was regarded), and as excelling in all +that can do honor to friendship. I want you for the while to turn your +mind away from me, and to imagine that it is Laelius who is speaking. +Caius Fannius and Quintus Mucius come to their father-in-law after the +death of Africanus. They commence the conversation, Laelius answers +them. In reading all that he says about friendship, you will recognize +the picture of your own friendship for me. + +2 FANNIUS It is as you say, [Footnote: The reference is to what Laelius +is supposed to have said already. The dialogue, as given here, is made +to commence in the midst of a conversation.] Laelius, for there never +was a better man, or one more justly renowned, than Africanus, But you +ought to bear it in mind that the eyes of all are turned upon you at +this time, for they both call you and think you wise. This distinction +has been latterly given to Cato, and you know that in the days of our +fathers Lucius Atilius [Footnote: The first Roman known to have borne +the surname of Sapiens He was one of the earliest of the juriconsults +who took pupils.] was in like manner surnamed The Wise, but both of them +were so called for other reasons than those which have given you this +name,--Atilius, for his reputation as an adept in municipal law, Cato, +for the versatility of his endowments for there were reported to his +honor many measures wisely planned and vigorously carried through in the +Senate, and many cases skilfully defended in the courts, so that in his +old age The Wise was generally applied to him as a surname. But you are +regarded as wise on somewhat different grounds, not only for your +disposition and your moral worth, but also for your knowledge and +learning, and not in the estimation of the common people, but in that of +men of advanced culture, you are deemed wise in a sense in which there +is reason to suppose that in Greece--where those who look into these +things most discriminatingly do not reckon the seven who bear the name +as on the list of wise men--no one was so regarded except the man in +Athens whom the oracle of Apollo designated as the wisest of +men.[Footnote: Socrates.] In fine, you are thought to be wise in this +sense, that you regard all that appertains to your happiness as within +your own soul, and consider the calamities to which man is liable as of +no consequence in comparison with virtue. I am therefore asked, and so, +I believe, is Scaevola, who is now with us, how you bear the death of +Africanus; and the question is put to us the more eagerly, because on +the fifth day of the mouth next following, [Footnote: Latin, _proxumis +nonis_. The _nones_, the ninth day before the _ides_, fell on the fifth +of the month, except in March. May, July, and October, when the _ides_ +were two days later. We have elsewhere intimation that the Augurs held +a meeting for business on the _nones_ of each month.] when we met, as +usual, in the garden of Decimus Brutus the Augur, to discuss our +official business, you were absent, though it was your habit always on +that day to give your most careful attendance to the duties of your +office. + +SCAEVOLA. As Fannius says, Caius Laelius, many have asked me this +question. But I answered in accordance with what I have seen, that you +were bearing with due moderation your sorrow for the death of this your +most intimate friend, though you, with your kindly nature, could not +fail to be moved by it; but that your absence from the monthly meeting +of the Augurs was due to illness, not to grief. + +LAELIUS. You were in the right, Scaevola, and spoke the truth; for it +was not fitting, had I been in good health, for me to be detained by my +own sad feeling from this duty, which I have never failed to discharge; +nor do I think that a man of firm mind can be so affected by any +calamity as to neglect his duty. It is, indeed, friendly in you, +Fannius, to tell me that better things are said of me than I feel worthy +of or desire to have said; but it seems to me that you underrate Cato. +For either there never was a wise man (and so I am inclined to think), +or if there has been such a man, Cato deserves the name. To omit other +things, how nobly did he bear his son's death! I remembered Paulus, +[Footnote: Paulus Aemilius, who lost two sons, one a few days before, +the other shortly after, the triumph decreed to him for the conquest of +the Macedonian King Perseus.] I had seen Gallus,[Footnote: Gaius +Sulpicius Gallus, mentioned as an astronomer by Cicero, _De Officiis_, +i. 6, and _De Senectute_, 14.] in their bereavements. But they lost +boys; Cato, a man in his prime and respected by all.[Footnote: The +younger Cato had won fame as a soldier and distinguished eminence as a +jurist. At the time of his death he was praetor elect.] Beware how you +place in higher esteem than Cato even the man whom Apollo, as you say, +pronounced superlatively wise; for it is the deeds of Cato, the sayings +of Socrates, that are held in honor. Thus far in reply to Fannius. As +regards myself, I will now answer both of you. + +3. Were I to deny that I feel the loss of Scipio, while I leave it to +those who profess themselves wise in such matters to say whether I ought +to feel it, I certainly should be uttering a falsehood. I do indeed feel +my bereavement of such a friend as I do not expect ever to have again, +and as I am sure I never had beside. But I need no comfort from without, +I console myself, and, chief of all, I find comfort in my freedom from +the apprehension that oppresses most men when their friends die, for I +do not think that any evil has befallen Scipio. If evil has befallen, it +is to me. But to be severely afflicted by one's own misfortunes is the +token of self-love, not of friendship. As for him, indeed who can deny +that the issue has been to his pre-eminent glory? Unless he had wished-- +what never entered into his mind--an endless life on earth what was +there within human desire that did not accrue to the man who in his very +earliest youth by his incredible ability and prowess surpassed the +highest expectations that all had formed of his boyhood, who never +sought the consulship, yet was made consul twice, the first time before +the legal age,[Footnote: He left the army in Africa B.C. 147 for home to +offer himself as a candidate for the aedileship, for which he had just +reached the legal age of thirty seven; but such accounts of his ability +efficiency, and courage had preceded him and followed him from the army, +that he was chosen Consul, virtually by popular acclamation.] the second +time in due season as to himself, but almost too late for his +country,[Footnote: The war in Spain had been continued for several +years, with frequent disaster and disgrace to the Roman army, when +Scipio, B.C. 134, was chosen Consul with a special view to this war, +which he closed by the capture and destruction of Numantia, inconnection +with which, it must he confessed, his record is rather that of a +relentless and sanguinary enemy than of a generous and placable +antagonist.] who by the overthrow of two cities implacably hostile to +the Roman empire put a period, not only to the wars that were but to +wars that else must have been? What shall I say of the singular +affability of his manners, of his filial piety to his mother, [Footnote: +He was the son of Paulus Aemilius, and the adopted son of Publius +Cornelius Scipio Africanus. His mother, divorced for no assignable +reason, was left very poor, and her son, on the death of the widow of +his adopting father, gave her the entire patrimony that came into his +possession.] of his generosity to his sisters, [Footnote: After his +mother's death, law and custom authorized him to resume what he had +given her, but he bestowed it on his sisters, thus affording them the +means of living comfortably and respectably.] of his integrity in his +relations with all men? How dear he was to the community was shown by +the grief at his funeral. What benefit, then, could he have derived from +a few more years? For, although old age be not burdensome,--as I +remember that Cato, the year before he died, maintained in a +conversation with me and Scipio, [Footnote: The _De Senectute_]--it yet +impairs the fresh vigor which Scipio had not begun to lose. Thus his +life was such that nothing either in fortune or in fame could be added +to it, while the suddenness of his death must have taken away the pain +of dying. Of the mode of his death it is hard to speak with certainty, +you are aware what suspicions are abroad. [Footnote: He retired to his +sleeping apartment apparently in perfect health, and was found dead on +his couch in the morning,--as was rumored, with marks of violence on his +neck. His wife was Sempronia, the sister of the Gracchi whose agrarian +schemes he had vehemently opposed. She was suspected of having at least +given admission to the assassin, and even her mother, the Cornelia who +has been regarded as unparelleled among Roman women for the virutes +appertaining to a wife and mother, did not escape the charge of +complicity. Her son Caius was also among those suspected, but the more +probable opinion is that Papirius Carbo was alone answerable for the +crime. Carbo had been Scipio's most bitter enemy and had endeavoured to +inflame the people against him as their enemy.] But this may be said +with truth that of the many days of surpassing fame and happiness which +Publius Scipio saw in his lifetime, the most glorious was the day before +his death when on the adjournment of the Senate he was escorted home by +the Conscript Fathers, the Roman people, the men of Latium and the +allies, [Footnote): Scipio had at that session of the senate proposed a +measure in the utmost degree offensive to Caius Gracchus and his party. +The law of Tiberius Gracchus would have disposed, at the hands of the +commissioners appointed under it, of large tracts of land belonging to +the Italian allies. Scipio's plan provided that such lands should be +taken out of the jurisdiction of the commissioners, and that matters +relating to them should be adjudged by a different board to be specially +appointed--a measure which would have been a virtual abrogation of the +agrarian law. On this account he had his honorable escort home, and on +this account, in all probability, he was mudered.]--so that from so +high a grade of honor he seems to have passed on into the assembly of +the gods rather than to have gone down into the underworld. + +4 For I am far from agreeing with those who have of late promulgated the +opinion that the soul perishes with the body and that death blots out +the whole being. [Footnote: The reference here is of course to the +Epicurians. This school of philosophy had grown very rapidly, and +numbered many disciples when this essay was written; but in the time of +Laelius it had but recently invaded Rome, and Amafanius, who must have +been his contemporary, was the earliest Roman writer who expounded its +doctrine] I on the other hand attach superior value to the authority of +the ancients whether that of our ancestors who established religious +rites for the dead which they certainly would not have done if they had +thought the dead wholly unconcerned in such observances [Footnote: This +is sound reasoning as these rites were annually renewed and consisted in +great part of the invocation of ancestors--a custom which could not have +originated if those ancestors were supposed to be utterly dead. This +passage may remind the reader of the answer of Jesus Christ to the +Sadducees, who denied that the Pentateuch contained any intimation of +immortality. He quotes the passage in which God is represented as +saying, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of +Jacob," and adds, "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living," +implying that ancestors whom the writer of that record supposed to be +dead could not have been thus mentioned.] or thatof the former Greek +colonists in this country who by their schools and teaching made +Southern Italy [Footnote: Latin _Magna Graecia_-the name given to the +cluster of Greek colonies that were scattered thick along the shore of +Southern Italy. At Croton in Magna Graecia Pythagoras established his +school and the colonies were the chief seat and seminary of his +philosophy which taught the immortality of the soul.]--now in its +decline, then flourishing--a seat of learning, or that of him whom the +oracle of Apollo pronounced the wisest of men who said not one thing +to-day, another to-morrow, as many do, but the same thing always, +maintaining that the souls of men are divine, and that when they go out +from the body, the return to heaven is open to them, and direct and easy +in proportion to their integrity and excellence. This was also the +opinion of Scipio, who seemed prescient of the event so near, when, a +very short time before his death, he discoursed for three successive +days about the republic in the presence of Philus, Manilius, and several +others,--you, Scaevola, having gone with me to the conferences,--and +near the close of the discussion he told us what he said that he had +heard from Africanus in a vision during sleep. [Footnote: The _De +Republica_ consists of dialogues on three successive days in Scipio's +garden, and Scipio is the chief speaker. The work was supposed to be +irrecoverably lost, with the exception of this Dream of Scipio and a few +fragments, but considerable portions of it were discovered in a +palimpsest in 1822. The Dream of Scipio will be found in the latter part +of this volume.] If it is true that the soul of every man of surpassing +excellence takes flight, as it were, from the custody and bondage of the +body, to whom can we imagine the way to the gods more easy than to +Scipio? I therefore fear to mourn for this his departure, lest in such +grief there be more of envy than of friendship. But if truth incline to +the opinion that soul and body have the same end, and that there is no +remaining consciousness, then, as there is nothing good in death, there +certainly is nothing of evil For if consciousness be lost, the case is +the same with Scipio as if he had never been born, though that he was +born I have so ample reason to rejoice, and this city will be glad so +long as it shall stand Thus in either event, with him, as I have said, +all has issued well, though with great discomfort for me, who more +fittingly, as I entered into life before him ought to have left it +before him. But I so enjoy the memory of our friendship, that I seem to +have owed the happiness of my life to my having lived with Scipio, with +whom I was united in the care of public interests and of private +affairs, who was my companion at home and served by my side in the army +[Footnote: Laelus went with Scipio on the campaign which resulted in the +destruction of Carthage.] and with whom--and therein lies the special +virtue of friendship--I was in perfect harmony of purpose, taste, and +sentiment. Thus I am now not so much delighted by the reputation for +wisdom of which Fannius has just spoken, especially as I do not deserve +it, as by the hope that our friendship will live in eternal remembrance, +and this I have the more at heart because from all ages scarce three or +four pairs of friends are on record, [Footnote: Those referred to +probably Theseus and Peirithous, Achilles and Patroclus, Orestes and +Pylades, Damon and Phintius,--all but the last, perhaps the last also, +mythical] on which list I cannot but hope that the friendship of Scipio +and Laelius will be known to posterity. + +FANNIUS. It cannot fail, Laelius, to be as you desire. But since you +have made mention of friendship, and we are at leisure, you will confer +on me a very great favor, and, I trust, on Scaevola too, if, as you are +wont to do on other subjects when your opinion is asked, you will +discourse to us on friendship, and tell us what you think about it, in +what estimation you hold it, and what rules you would give for it. + +SCAEVOLA. This will indeed be very gratifying to me, and had not Fannius +anticipated me, I was about to make the same request. You thus will +bestow a great kindness on both of us. + +5. LAELIUS. I certainly would not hesitate, if I had confidence in my +own powers; for the subject is one of the highest importance, and, as +Fannius says, we are at leisure. It is the custom of philosophers, +especially among the Greeks, to have subjects assigned to them, which +they discuss even without premeditation. [Footnote: This was the boast +and pride of the Greek sophists.] This is a great accomplishment, and +requires no small amount of exercise. I therefore think that you ought +to seek the treatment of friendship by those who profess this art. I can +only advise you to prefer friendship to all things else within human +attainment, insomuch as nothing beside is so well fitted to nature,--so +well adapted to our needs whether in prosperous or in adverse +circumstances. But I consider this as a first principle--that friendship +can exist only between good men. In thus saying, I would not be so rigid +in definition [Footnote: Latin. _Neque ut ad ilium reseco_, literally, +nor in this matter do I cut to the quick.] as those who establish +specially subtle distinctions, [Footnote: The Stoics of the more rigid +type, who maintained that the wise man alone is good, but denied that +the truly wise man had yet made his appearance on the earth.] with +literal truth it may be, but with little benefit to the common mind; for +they will not admit that any man who is not wise is a good man. This may +indeed be true. But they understand by wisdom a state which no mortal +has yet attained; while we ought to look at those qualities which are to +be found in actual exercise and in common life, not at those which exist +only in fancy or in aspiration. Caius Fabricius, Manius Curius, Tiberius +Coruncanius, wise as they were in the judgment of our fathers, I will +consent not to call wise by the standard of these philosophers. Let them +keep for themselves the name of wisdom, which is invidious and of +doubtful meaning, if they will only admit that these may have been good +men. But they will not grant even this; they insist on denying the name +of good to any but the wise. I therefore adopt the standard of common +sense. [Footnote: Latin _agamus igitur piagui (ut aiunt) Minerva_, that +is with a less refined, a grosser wisdom more nearly conformed to the +sound, if somewhat crass, common-sensFe of the majority.] Those who +integrity, equity, and kindness win approval, who are entirely free from +avarice, lust and the infirmities of a hasty temper, and in whom there +is perfect consistency of character, in fine men like those whom I have +named while they are regarded as good, ought to be so called, because to +the utmost of human capacity they follow Nature who is the best guide in +living well. Indeed, it seems to me thoroughly evident that there should +be a certain measure of fellowship among all, but more intimate the +nearer we approach one another. Thus this feeling has more power between +fellow-citizens than toward foreigners, between kindred than between +those of different families. Toward our kindred, Nature herself produces +a certain kind of friendship. But this lacks strength, and indeed +friendship in its full sense, has precedence of kinship in this +particular, that good-will may be taken away from kinship, not from +friendship, for when good will is removed, friendship loses its name, +while that of kinship remains. How great is the force of friendship we +may best understand from this,--that out of the boundless society of the +human race which Nature has constituted, the sense of fellowship is so +contracted and narrowed that the whole power of loving is bestowed on +the union of two or a very few friends. + +6 Friendship is nothing else than entire fellow feeling as to all things +human and divine with mutual good-will and affection; [1] and I doubt +whether anything better than this, wisdom alone excepted, has been given +to, man by the immortal gods Some prefer riches to it, some, sound +health, some, power, some, posts of honor, many, even sensual +gratification. This last properly belongs to beasts, the others are +precarious and uncertain, dependent not on our own choice so much as on +the caprice of Fortune. Those, indeed, who regard virtue as the supreme +good are entirely in the right, but it is virtue itself that produces +and sustains friendship, not without virtue can friendship by any +possibility exist. In saying this, however I would interpret virtue in +accordance with our habits of speech and of life, not defining it, as +some philosophers do, by high-sounding words, but numbering on the list +of good men those who are commonly so regarded,--the Pauli, the Catos, +the Galli, the Scipios, the Phili Mankind in general [1 It may be +doubted whether this close conformity of opinion and feeling is +essential, or even favorable to friendship. The amicable comparison and +collision of thought and sentiment are certainly consistent with, and +often conducive to the most friendly intimacy Friends are not +infrequently the complements, rather than the likeness, of each other +Cicero and Atticus were as close friends as Scipio and Laelius; but they +were at many points exceedingly unlike. Atticus had the tact and skill +in worldly matters, which Cicero lacked. Atticus kept aloof from public +affairs while Cicero was unhappy whenever he could not imagine himself +as taking a leading part in them. Atticus was an Epicurran, and Cicero +never lost an opportunity of attacking the Epicurean philosophy.] are +content with these. Let us then leave out of the account such good men +as are nowhere to be found. Among such good men as there really are, +friendship has more advantages than I can easily name. In the first, +place, as Ennius says;-- + +"How can life be worth living, if devoid Of the calm trust reposed by +friend in friend? What sweeter joy than in the kindred soul, Whose +converse differs not from self-communion?" + +How could you have full enjoyment of prosperity, unless with one whose +pleasure in it was equal to your own? Nor would it be easy to bear +adversity, unless with the sympathy of one on whom it rested more +heavily than on your own soul. Then, too, other objects of desire are, +in general, adapted, each to some specific purpose,--wealth, that you +may use it; power, that you may receive the homage of those around you; +posts of honor, that you may obtain reputation; sensual gratification, +that you may live in pleasure; health, that you may be free from pain, +and may have full exercise of your bodily powers and faculties. But +friendship combines the largest number of utilities. Wherever you turn, +it is at hand. No place shuts it out. It is never unseasonable, never +annoying. Thus, as the proverb says, "You cannot put water or fire to +more uses than friendship serves." I am not now speaking of the common +and moderate type of friendship, which yet yields both pleasure and +profit, but, of true and perfect friendship, like that which existed in +the few instances that are held in special remembrance. Such friendship +at once enhances the lustre of prosperity, and by dividing and sharing +adversity lessens its burden. + +7. Moreover, while friendship comprises the greatest number and variety +of beneficent offices, it certainly has this special prerogative, that +it lights up a good hope for the time to come, and thus preserves the +minds that it sustains from imbecility or prostration in misfortune. For +he, indeed, who looks into the face of a friend beholds, as it were, a +copy of himself. Thus the absent are present, and the poor are rich, and +the weak are strong, and--what seems stranger still [Footnote: +Literally, _what is harder to say_.]--the dead are alive, such is the +honor, the enduring remembrance, the longing love, with which the dying +are followed by the living; so that the death of the dying seems happy, +the life of the living full of praise. [Footnote: The sense of this +sentence is somewhat overlaid by the rhetoric; yet it undoubtedly means +that an absent friend is esteemed and honored in the person of the +friend who not only loves him, but is regarded as representing him; that +a poor friend enjoys the prosperity of his rich friend as if it were his +own; that a weak friend feels his feebleness energized by the friend who +in need will fight his battles for him; and that no man is suffered to +lapse from the kind and reverent remembrances of those who see his +likeness in the friend who keeps his memory green.] But if from the +condition of human life you were to exclude all kindly union, no house, +no city, could stand, nor, indeed, could the tillage of the field +survive. If it is not perfectly understood what virtue there is in +friendship and concord, it may be learned from dissension and discord. +For what house is so stable, what state so firm, that it cannot be +utterly overturned by hatred and strife? Hence it may be ascertained how +much good there is in friendship. It is said that a certain philosopher +of Agrigentum [Footnote: Empedocles. Only a few fragments of his great +poem are extant. His theory seems like a poetical version of Newton's +law of universal gravitation. The analogy between physical attraction +and the mutual attraction of congenial minds and souls has its record in +the French word _aimant_, denoting _loadstone_ or _magnet_.] sang in +Greek verse that it is friendship that draws together and discord that +parts all things which subsist in harmony, and which have their various +movements in nature and in the whole universe. The worth and power of +friendship, too, all mortals understand, and attest by their approval in +actual instances. Thus, if there comes into conspicuous notice an +occasion on which a friend incurs or shares the perils of his friend, +who can fail to extol the deed with the highest praise? What shouts +filled the whole theatre at the performance of the new play of my guest +[Footnote: Or _host_; for the word _hospes_ may have either meaning. It +denotes not the fact of giving or receiving hospitality, but the +permanent and sacred relation established between host and guest. This +relation has lost much of its character in modern civilization, and I +doubt whether it has a name in any modern European language.] and friend +Marcus Pacuvius, when--the king not knowing which of the two was +Orestes--Pylades said that he was Orestes, while Orestes persisted in +asserting that he was, as in fact he was, Orestes! [Footnote: Among the +many and conflicting legends about Orestes is that which seems to have +been the theme of the lost tragedy of Pacuvius. Orestes, after avenging +on his mother and her paramour the murder of his father, in order to +expiate the guilt of matricide, was directed by the Delphian oracle to +go to Tauris, and to steal and transport to Athens an image of Artemis +that had fallen from heaven. His friend Pylades accompanied him on this +expedition. They were seized by Thoas the king, and Orestes, as the +principal offender, was to be sacrificed to Artemis. His sister, +Iphigeneia, priestess of Artemis, contrived their escape, and the three +arrived safe at Athens with the sacred image.] The whole assembly rose +in applause at this mere fictitious representation. What may we suppose +that they would have done, had the same thing occurred in real life? In +that case Nature herself displayed her power, when men recognized that +as rightly done by another, which they would not have had the courage to +do themselves. Thus far, to the utmost of my ability as it seems to me, +I have given you my sentiments concerning friendship. If there is more +to be said, as I think that there is, endeavor to obtain it, if you see +fit, of those who are wont to discuss such subjects. + +FANNIUS. But we would rather have it from you. Although I have often +consulted those philosophers also, and have listened to them not +unwillingly, yet the thread of your discourse differs somewhat from that +of theirs. + +SCAEVOLA. You would say so all the more, Fannius, had you been present +in Scipio's garden at that discussion about the republic, and heard what +an advocate of justice he showed himself in answer to the elaborate +speech of Philus. [Footnote: Carneades, when on an embassy to Rome, for +the entertainment of his Roman hosts, on one day delivered a discourse +in behalf of justice as the true policy for the State, and on the next +day delivered an equally subtile and eloquent discourse maintaining the +opposite thesis. In the third Book of the _De Republica_ Philus is made +the "devil's advocate," and has assigned to him the championship of what +we are wont to call a Machiavelian policy, and, in general, of the +morally wrong as the politically right. He is represented astaking the +part reluctantly, saying that one consents to soil his hands in order to +find gold, and he professes to give the substance of the famous +discourse of Carneades. Laelius answers him, and, so far as we can +judge from the fragments of his reply that are extant, with the +preponderance of reason, which Cicero intended should incline on the +better side. There was perhaps a sublatent irony in making Philus play +this part; for he was an eminently upright man. Valerius Maximus +eulogizes him for his rigid integrity and impartiality, and relates that +when at the expiration of his consulship he was sent to take command of +the army against Numantia, he chose for his lieutenants Metellus and +Pompeius, both his intensely bitter enemies, but the men best fitted for +the service.] + +FANNIUS. It was indeed easy for the man pre-eminently just to defend +justice. + +SCAEVOLA. As to friendship, then, is not its defence easy for him who +has won the highest celebrity on the ground of friendship maintained +with pre-eminent faithfulness, consistency, and probity? + +8. LAELIUS. This is, indeed, the employing of force; for what matters +the way in which you compel me? You at any rate do compel me; for it is +both hard and unfair not to comply with the wishes of one's sons-in-law, +especially in a case that merits favorable consideration. + +In reflecting, then, very frequently on friendship, the foremost +question that is wont to present itself is, whether friendship is craved +on account of conscious infirmity and need, so that in bestowing and +receiving the kind offices that belong to it each may have that done for +him by the other which he is least able to do for himself, reciprocating +services in like manner; or whether, though this relation of mutual +benefit is the property, of friendship it has yet another cause; more +sacred and more noble, and derived more genuinely from the very nature +of man. Love, which in our language gives name to friendship, [Footnote: +_Amor,--amicitia._] bears a chief part in unions of mutual benefit; for +a revenue of service is levied even on those who are cherished in +pretended friendship, and are treated with regard from interested +motives. But in friendship there is nothing feigned, nothing pretended, +and whatever there is in it is both genuine and spontaneous. Friendship, +therefore, springs from nature rather than from need,--from an +inclination of the mind with a certain consciousness of love rather than +from calculation of the benefit to be derived from it. Its real quality +may be discerned even in some classes of animals, which up to a certain +time so love their offspring, and are so loved by them, that the mutual +feeling is plainly seen,--a feeling which is much more clearly manifest +in man, first, in the affection which exists between children and +parents, and which can he dissolved only by atrocious guilt; and in the +next place, in the springing up of a like feeling of love, when we find +some one of manners and character congenial with our own, who becomes +dear to us because we seem to see in him an illustrious example of +probity and virtue For there is nothing more lovable than virtue,-- +nothing which more surely wins affectionate regard, insomuch that on the +score of virtue and probity we love even those whom we have never seen. +Who is there that does not recall the memory of Caius Fabricius, of +Manius Curius, of Tiberius Coruncanras, whom he never saw, with some +good measure of kindly feeling? On the other hand, who is there that can +fail to hate Tarquinius Superbus, Spurius Cassius, Spurius Maelius? Our +dominion in Italy was at stake in wars under two commanders, Pyrrhus and +Hannibal. On account of the good faith of the one, we hold him in no +unfriendly remembrance; [Footnote: Pyrrhus, after the only victory that +he obtained over the Romans, treated his prisoners with signal humanity, +and restored them without ransom. See _De Officiis_, i. 12] the other +because of his cruelty our people must always hate. [Footnote: It may be +doubted wheter Hannibal deserved the reproach here implied. The Roman +historians ascribe to him acts of cruelty no worse than their own +generals were chargeable with: while nothing of the kind is related by +either Polybius, or Plutarch. It is certain that after the battle of +Cannae he checked the needless slaughter of the Roman fugitives, and +Livy relates several instances in which he paid funeral honors, to +distinguished Romans slain in battle. The intense hostility of the +Romans to Carthage may have led to an unfair estimate of the great +general's character, and to the invention or exaggeration of reports to +his discredit.] + +9. But if good faith has such attractive power that we love it in those +whom we have never seen, or--what means still more--in an enemy, what +wonder is it if the minds of men are moved to affection when they behold +the virtue and goodness of those with whom they can become intimately +united? + +Love is, indeed, strengthened by favors received, by witnessing +assiduity in one's service, and by habitual intercourse; and when these +are added to the first impulse of the mind toward love, there flames +forth a marvellously rich glow of affectionate feeling. If there are any +who think that this proceeds from conscious weakness and the desire to +have some person through whom one can obtain what he lacks, they assign, +indeed, to friendship a mean and utterly ignoble origin, born, as they +would have it, of poverty and neediness. If this were true, then the +less of resource one was conscious of having in himself, the better +fitted would he be for friendship. The contrary is the case; for the +more confidence a man has in himself, and the more thoroughly he is +fortified by virtue and wisdom, so that he is in need of no one, and +regards all that concerns him as in his own keeping, the more noteworthy +is he for the friendships which he seeks and cherishes. What? Did +Africanus need me? Not in the least by Hercules. As little did I need +him. But I was drawn to him by admiration of his virtue while he, in +turn, loved me, perhaps from some favorable estimate of my character, +and intimacy incieased our mutual affection. But though utilities many +and great resulted from our friendship, the cause of our mutual love did +not proceed from the hope of what it might bring. For as we are +beneficent and generous, not in order to exact kindnesses in return (for +we do not put our kind offices to interest), but are by nature inclined +to be generous, so, in my opinion, friendship is not to be sought for +its wages, but because its revenue consists entirely in the love which +it implies. Those, however, who, after the manner of beasts, refer +everything to pleasure, [Footnote: The Epicureans] think very +differently. Nor is it wonderful that they do, for men who have degraded +all their thoughts to so mean and contemptible an end can rise to the +contemplation of nothing lofty, nothing magnificent and divine. We may, +therefore, leave them out of this discussion. But let us have it well +understood that the feeling of love and the endearments of mutual +affection spring from nature, in case there is a well-established +assurance of moral worth in the person thus loved. Those who desire to +become friends approach each other, and enter into relation with each +other, that each may enjoy the society and the character of him whom he +has begun to love, and they are equal in love, and on either side are +more inclined to bestow obligations than to claim a return, so that in +this matter there is an honorable rivalry between them. Thus will the +greatest benefits be derived from friendship, and it will have a more +solid and genuine foundation as tracing its origin to nature than if it +proceeded from human weakness. For if it were utility that cemented +friendships, an altered aspect of utility would dissolve them. But +because nature cannot be changed, therefore true friendships are +eternal. This may suffice for the origin of friendship, unless you have, +perchance, some objection to what I have said. + +FANNIUS. Go on, Laelius. I answer by the right of seniority for Scaevola +who is younger than I am. + +SCAEVOLA. I am of the same mind with you. Let us then, hear farther. + +10 LAELIUS. Hear then, my excellent friends the substance of the +frequent discussions on friendship between Scipio and me. He indeed, +said [footnote: The construction of this entire section is in the +subjective imperfect depending on the _dicebat_ in the second sentence. +It has seemed to me that the direct form of constiution which I have +adopted is more consonant with the genius of our language.] that nothing +is more difficult than for friendship to last through life; for friends +happen to have conflicting interests, or different political opinions. +Then, again, as he often said, characters change, sometimes under +adverse conditions, sometimes with growing years. He cited also the +analogy of what takes place in early youth, the most ardent loves of +boyhood being often laid aside with its robe. But if friendships last on +into opening manhood, they are not infrequently broken up by rivalry in +quest of a wife, or in the pursuit of some advantage which only one can +obtain. [Footnote: Had Cicero not been personating Laelius, who died +long before the quarrel occurred, he would undoubtedly have cited the +case of Servilius Caepio and Livius Diusus. They married each other's +sisters, and were united in the closest intimacy, and seemingly in the +dearest mutual love; but as rivals in bidding for a ring at an auction- +sale they had their first quarrel, which grew into intense mutual +hatred, led almost to a civil war between their respective partisans, +and bore no small part in starting the series of dissentions which +issued in the Social War, and the destruction of not far from three +hundred thousand lives. I refer to this in a note, because it must have +been fresh in Cicero's memory, and had annotation been the habit of his +time, he would most assuredly have given it the place which I now give +it.] Then, if friendships are of longer duration, they yet, as Scipio +said, are liable to be undermined by competition for office; and indeed +there is nothing more fatal to friendship than, in very many cases, the +greed of gain, and among some of the best of men the contest for place +and fame, which has often engendered the most intense enmity between +those who had been the closest friends. Strong and generally just +aversion, also, springs up when anything morally wrong is required of a +friend; as when he is asked to aid in the gratification of impure +desire, or to render his assistance in some unrighteous act,--in which +case those who refuse, although their conduct is highly honorable, are +yet charged by the persons whom they will not serve with being false to +the claims of friendship, while those who dare to make such a demand of +a friend profess, by the very demand, that they are ready to do anything +and everything for a friend's sake. By such quarrels, not only are old +intimacies often dissolved, but undying hatreds generated. So many of +these perils hang like so many fates over friendship, that to escape +them all seemed to Scipio, as he said, to indicate not wisdom alone, but +equally a rare felicity of fortune. + +11. Let us then, first, if you please, consider how far the love of +friends ought to go. If Coriolanus had friends, ought they to have +helped him in fighting against his country, or should the friends of +Viscellinus [Footnote: Spurius Cassius Viscellinus, the author of the +earliest agrarian law, passed, but never carried into execution. He was +condemned to death,--probably a victim to the rancorous opposition of +the patrician order, of which he was regarded as a recreant member by +virtue of his advocacy of the rights or just claims of the _plebs_. +Cicero in early life was by no means so hostile to the principle +underlying the agrarian laws, and to the memory of the Gracchi, as he +was after he had reached the highest offices in the gift of the people.] +or those of Spurius Maelius [Footnote: Maelius, of the equestrian order, +but of a plebeian family, obtained unbounded popularity with the _plebs_ +by selling corn at a low price, and giving away large quantities of it, +in a time of famine. He was charged with seeking kingly power, and, on +account of his alleged movements with that purpose, Cincinnatus was +appointed dictator, and Maelius, resisting a summons to his tribunal, +was killed by Ahala, his master of the horse. There seems to have been +little evidence of his actual guilt.] have aided them in the endeavor to +usurp regal power? We saw, indeed, Tiberius Gracchus, when he was +disturbing the peace of the State, deserted by Quintus Tubero and others +with whom he had been on terms of intimacy. But Caius Blossius, of +Cumae, the guest,[Footnote: _Hospes,_ guest, host, or both.] Scaevola, +of your family, coming to me, when I was in conference with the Consuls +Laenas and Rupilius, to implore pardon, urged the plea that he held +Tiberius Gracchus in so dear esteem that he felt bound to do whatever he +desired. I then asked him, "Even if he had wanted you to set fire to the +Capitol, would you have done it?" He replied, "He never would have made +such a request." "But if he had?" said I. "I would have obeyed him," was +the answer. And, by Hercules, he did as he said, or even more; for he +did not so much yield obedience to the audacious schemes of Tiberius +Gracchus, as he was foremost in them; he was not so much the companion +of his madness, as its leader. Therefore, in consequence of this folly, +alarmed by the appointment of special judges for his trial, he fled to +Asia, entered the service of our enemies, and finally met the heavy and +just punishment for his disloyalty to his country. [Footnote: He took +refuge with Aristonicus, King of Pergamus, then at war with Rome; and +when Aristonicus was conquered, Blossius committed suicide for fear of +being captured by the Roman army.] + +It is, then, no excuse for wrong-doing that you do wrong for the sake of +a friend. Indeed, since it may have been a belief in your virtue that +has made one your friend, it is hard for friendship to last if you fall +away from virtue. But if we should determine either to concede to +friends whatever they may ask, or to exact from them whatever we may +desire, we and they must be endowed with perfect wisdom, in order for +our friendship to be blameless. We are speaking, however, of such +friends as we have before our eyes, or as we have seen or have known by +report,--of such as are found in common life. It is from these that we +must take our examples, especially from such of them as make the nearest +approach to perfect wisdom. We have learned from our fathers that Papus +Aemilius was very intimate with Caius Luscinus, they having twice been +consuls together, as well as colleagues in the censorship; and it is +said also that Manius Curius and Tiberius Coruncanius lived in the +closest friendship both with them and with each other. Now we cannot +suspect that either of these men would have asked of one of his friends +anything inconsistent with good faith, or with an engagement sanctioned +by oath, or with his duty to the State. Indeed, to what purpose is it to +say that among such men if one had asked anything wrong, he would not +have obtained it? For they were men of the most sacred integrity; while +to ask anything wrong of a friend and to do it when asked are alike +tokens of deep depravity. But Caius Carbo and Caius Cato were the +followers of Tiberius Gracchus, as was his brother Caius, at first with +little ardor, but now [Footnote: _Now_, that is, at the time at which +this dialogue has its assumed date, immediately after Scipio's death. At +that time Caius Gracchus was acting as a commissioner under his +brother's agrarian law.] most zealously. + +12. As to friendship, then, let this law be enacted, that we neither ask +of a friend what is wrong, nor do what is wrong at a friend's request. +The plea that it was for a friend's sake is a base apology,--one that +should never be admitted with regard to other forms of guilt, and +certainly not as to crimes against the State. We, indeed, Fannius and +Scaevola, are so situated that we ought to look far in advance for the +perils that our country may incur. Already has our public policy +deviated somewhat from the method and course of our ancestors. Tiberius +Gracchus attempted to exercise supreme power; nay, he really reigned for +a few months. What like this had the Roman people ever heard or seen +before? What, after his death, the friends and kindred who followed him +did in their revenge on Publius Scipio [Footnote: Publius Cornelius +Scipio Nasica, who took the lead of the Senate in the assassination of +Tiberius Gracchus, and incurred such popular odium that he could not +safely stay in Rome. He was sent on a fictitious mission to Asia to get +him out of the way of the people, and not daring to return, wandered +with no settled habitation till his death at Pergamum not long before +the assumed date of this dialogue.] I cannot say without tears. We put +up with Carbo [Footnote: Carbo succeeded Tiberius Gracchus on the +commission for carrying the agrarian law into execution, and was shortly +afterward chosen Tribune. He then proposed a law, permitting a tribune +to be re-elected for an indefinite number of years. This law was +vehemently opposed by Scipio Africanus the Younger, and if he was really +killed by Carbo, it was probably on account of his hostility to Carbo's +ambitious schemes.] as well as we could in consideration of the recent +punishment of Tiberius Gracchus; but I am in no mood to predict what is +to be expected from the tribuneship of Caius Gracchus. Meanwhile the +evil is creeping upon us, from its very beginning fraught with threats +of ruin. Before recent events, [Footnote: The reference undoubtedly here +is to the Papirian law which had just been passed before the assumed +date of this dialogue, having been proposed and carried through by +(Caius _Papirius_) Carbo. By this law the use of the ballot was +established in all matters of popular legislation.] you perceive how +much degeneracy was indicated in the legalization of the ballot, first +by Gabinian, [Footnote: By which magistrates were to be chosen by +ballot.] then two years later by the Cassian law. [Footnote: By which +the judges were to be chosen by ballot. With reference to the use of the +ballot the parties in Rome were prototypes of like parties in England. +The voice of the people was for the ballot, on the ground that it made +suffrage free, as it could not be when employers or patrons could +dictate to their dependents and make them suffer for failure to vote in +favor of their own candidates or measures. The aristocratic party +opposed the ballot as fatal to their controlling influence, which many +sincere patriots, like Cicero, regarded as essential to the public +safety, while patrician demagogues, intriguers, and office-seekers made +it subservient to their own selfish or partisan interests.] I seem +already to see the people utterly alienated from the Senate, and the +most important affairs determined by the will of the multitude; for more +persons will learn how these things are brought about than how they may +be resisted. To what purpose am I saying this? Because no one makes such +attempts without associates. It is therefore to be enjoined on good men +that they must not think themselves so bound that they cannot renounce +their friends when they are guilty of crimes against the State. But +punishment must be inflicted on all who are implicated in such guilt,-- +on those who follow, no less than on those who lead. Who in Greece was +more renowned than Themistocles? Who had greater influence than he had? +When as commander in the Persian war he had freed Greece from bondage, +and for envy of his fame was driven into exile, he did not bear as he +ought the ill treatment of his ungrateful country. He did what +Coriolanus had done with us twenty years before. Neither of these men +found any helper against his country; [Footnote: No one of his own +fellow-countrymen.] they therefore both committed suicide. [Footnote: If +the story of Coriolanus be not a myth, as Niebuhr supposes it to be, his +suicide forms no part of the story as Livy tells it. The suicide of +Themistocles is related as a supposition, not as an established fact. If +he died of poison, as was said, it may have been administered by a rival +in the favor of Artaxerxes.] Association with depraved men for such an +end is not, then, to be shielded by the plea of friendship, but rather +to be avenged by punishment of the utmost severity, so that no one may +ever think himself authorized to follow a friend to the extent of making +war upon his country,--an extremity which, indeed, considering the +course that our public affairs have begun to take, may, for aught I +know, be reached at some future time. I speak thus because I feel no +less concern for the fortunes of the State after my death than as to its +present condition. + +13. Let this, then, be enacted as the first law of friendship, that we +demand of friends only what is right, and that we do for the sake of +friends only what is right. [Footnote: This is a virtual repetition of +the law of friendship announced at the beginning of the previous +section, and Cicero probably so intended it. He states the rule, then +demonstrates its validity, then repeats it in an almost identical form, +implying what the mathematician expresses when he puts at the end of a +demonstration _Quod èrat demonstrandum._] This understood, let us not +wait to be asked. Let there be constant assiduity and no loitering in a +friend's service. Let us also dare to give advice freely; for in +friendship the authority of friends who give good counsel may be of the +greatest value. Let admonition be administered, too, not only in plain +terms, but even with severity, if need be, and let heed be given to such +admonition. On this subject some things that appear to me strange have, +as I am told, been maintained by certain Greeks who are accounted as +philosophers, and are so skilled in sophistry that there is nothing +which they cannot seem to prove. Some of them hold that very intimate +friendships are to be avoided; that there is no need that one feel +solicitude for others; that it is enough and more than enough to take +care of your own concerns, and annoying to be involved to any +considerable extent in affairs not belonging to you; that the best way +is to have the reins of friendship as loose as possible, so that you can +tighten them or let them go at pleasure; for, according to them, ease is +the chief essential to happy living, and this the mind cannot enjoy, if +it bears, as it were, the pains of travail in behalf of a larger or +smaller circle of friends. [Footnote: This passage seems to be a +paraphrase of a passage in the _Hippolytus_ of Euripides, in which the +Nurse says: "It behooves mortals to form moderate friendships with one +another, and not to the very marrow of the soul, and the affections of +the mind should be held loosely, so that we may slacken or tighten them. +That one soul should be in travail for two is a heavy burden." Euripides +was regarded, and rightly, as no less a philosopher than a tragedian, +and was not infrequently styled [Greek: sophos]. Cicero here veils his +thorough conversance with Greek literature and philosophy, and assumes +the part of Laelius, in whose time, though Greek was not omitted in the +education of cultivated men, the study was comparatively new, and was +not carried to any great extent.] + +Others, [Footnote: The Epicureans.] I am told, with even much less of +true human feeling, teach what I touched upon briefly a little while +ago, that friendships are to be sought for defence and help, not on +account of good-will and affection. The less of self-confidence and the +less of strength one has, the more is he inclined to make friends. Thus +it is that women [Footnote: Latin, _mulierculae_, a diminutive, meaning, +however, not _little women_, but denoting the feebleness and dependence +of women in comparison with men. It must be confessed, too, that the +term is sometimes used, and perhaps here, semi-contemptuously; for the +Roman man felt an overweening pride in mere manhood.] seek the support +of friendship more than men do, the poor more than the rich, the +unfortunate more than those who seem happy. Oh, pre-eminent wisdom! It +is like taking the sun out of the world, to bereave human life of +friendship, than which the immortal gods have given man nothing better, +nothing more gladdening. What is the ease of which they speak? It is +indeed pleasing in aspect, but on many occasions it is to be renounced; +for it is not fitting, in order to avoid solicitude, either to refuse to +undertake any right cause or act, or to drop it after it is undertaken. +If we flee from care, we must flee from virtue, which of necessity with +no little care spurns and abhors its opposites, as goodness spurns and +abhors wickedness; temperance, excess; courage, cowardice. Thus you may +see that honest men are excessively grieved by the dishonest, the brave +by the pusillanimous, those who lead sober lives by the dissolute. It is +indeed characteristic of a well-ordered mind to rejoice in what is good +and to be grieved by the opposite. If then, pain of mind fall to the lot +of a wise man as it must of necessity unless we imagine his mind +divested of its humanity, why should we take friendship wholly out of +life, lest we experience some little trouble on account of it? Yet more, +if emotion be eliminated, what difference is there, I say not between a +man and a brute, but between a man and a rock, or the trunk of a tree, +or any inanimate object? Nor are those to be listened to, who regard +virtue as something hard and iron-like. [Footnote: Here, undoubtedly, +Cicero refers to the sterner type of Stoicism, which in his time was +already obsolescent, and was yielding place to the milder, while no less +rigid, ethics of which the _De Officiis_ may be regarded as the manual.] +As in many other matters, so in friendship, it is tender and flexible so +that it expands, as it were, with a friend's well being, and shrinks +when his peace is disturbed. Therefore the pain which must often be +incurred on a friend's account is not of sufficient moment to banish +friendship from human life, any more than the occasional care and +trouble which the virtues bring should be a reason for renouncing them. + +14. Since virtue attracts friendship, as I have said, if there shines +forth any manifestation of virtue with which a mind similarly disposed +can come into contact and union from such intercourse love must of +necessity spring. For what is so absurd as to be charmed with many +things that have no substantial worth, as with office, fame, +architecture, dress, and genteel appearance, but not to be in any wise +charmed by a mind endowed with virtue, and capable of either loving or-- +if I may use the word--re-loving? [Footnote: Latin, _redamare_, a word +coined by Cicero, and used with the apology, _ut ita dicam_] Nothing +indeed yields a richer revenue than kind affections, nothing gives more +delight than the interchange of friendly cares and offices. Then if we +add, as we rightly may, that there is nothing which so allures and +attracts aught else to itself as the likeness of character does to +friendship it will certainly be admitted that good men love good men and +adopt them into fellowship as if united with them by kindred and by +nature. By nature I say, for nothing is more craving or greedy of its +like than nature. This, then as I think, is evident, Fannius and +Scaevola that among the good toward the good there cannot but be mutual +kind feeling and in this we have a fountain of friendship established by +nature. + +But the same kind feeling extends to the community at large. For virtue +is not unsympathetic, nor unserviceable, [Footnote: Latin, _immunis_, +literally--without office.] nor proud. It is wont even to watch over the +well-being of whole nations, and to give them the wisest counsel, which +it would not do if it had no love for the people. + +Now those who maintain that friendships are formed from motives of +utility annul, as it seems to me, the most endearing bond of friendship; +for it is not so much benefit obtained through a friend as it is the +very love of the friend that gives delight. What comes from a friend +confers pleasure, only in case it bears tokens of his interest in us, +and so far is it from the truth that friendships are cultivated from a +sense of need, that those fully endowed with wealth and resources, +especially with virtue, which is the surest safeguard, and thus in no +need of friends, are the very persons who are the most generous and +munificent. Indeed, I hardly know whether it may not be desirable that +our friends should never have need of our services. Yet in the case of +Scipio and myself, what room would there have been for the active +exercise of my zeal in his behalf, had he never needed my counsel or +help at home or in the field? In this instance, however, the service +came after the friendship, not the friendship after the service. + +15. If these things are so, men who are given up to pleasure are not to +be listened to when they express their opinions about friendship, of +which they can have no knowledge either by experience or by reflection. +For, by the faith of gods and men, who is there that would be willing to +have a superabundance of all objects of desire and to live in the utmost +fulness of wealth and what wealth can bring, on condition of neither +loving any one nor being loved by any one? This, indeed, is the life of +tyrants, in which there is no good faith, no affection, no fixed +confidence in kindly feeling, perpetual suspicion and anxiety, and no +room for friendship; for who can love either him whom he fears, or him +by whom he thinks that he is feared? Yet they receive the show of +homage, but only while the occasion for it lasts. [Footnote: Latin, _dum +taxat ad tempus_, that is, while the homage rendered is in close contact +with the occasion,--with the immunity or profit to be purchased by it.] +If they chance to fall, as they commonly have fallen, they then +ascertain how destitute of friends they have been, as Tarquin is +reported to have said that he learned what faithful and what unfaithful +friends he had, when he could no longer render back favors to those of +either class,--although I wonder whether pride and insolence like his +could have had any friends. Moreover, as his character could not have +won real friends, so is the good fortune of many who occupy foremost +places of influence so held as to preclude faithful friendships. Not +only is Fortune blind, but she generally makes those blind whom she +embraces. Thus they are almost always beside themselves under the +influence of haughtiness and waywardness; nor can there be created +anything more utterly insupportable than a fortune-favored fool. There +are to be seen those who previously behaved with propriety who are +changed by station, power, or prosperity, and who spurn their old +friendships and lavish indulgence on the new. But what is more foolish +than when men have resources, means, wealth at their fullest command, +and can obtain horses, servants, splendid raiment, costly vases, +whatever money can buy, for them not to procure friends, who are, if I +may so speak, the best and the most beautiful furniture of human life? +Other things which a man may procure know not him who procures them, nor +do they labor for his sake,--indeed, they belong to him who can make +them his by the right of superior strength. But every one has his own +firm and sure possession of his friendships, while even if those things +which seem the gifts of fortune remain, still life unadorned and +deserted by friends cannot be happy. But enough has been said on this +branch of our subject. + +16. We must now determine the limits or bounds of friendship. On this +subject I find three opinions proposed, neither of which has my +approval,--the first, that we should do for our friends just what we +would do for ourselves, the second, that our good offices to our friends +should correspond in quantity and quality to those which they perform +for us, the third, that one's friends should value him according to his +own self-estimate. I cannot give unqualified assent to either of these +opinions. The first--that one should be ready to do for his friends +precisely what he would do for himself--is inadmissible. How many things +there are that we do for our friends which we should never do on our own +account!--such as making a request even an entreaty, of a man unworthy +of respect or inveighing against some person with a degree of +bitterness, nay, in terms of vehement reproach. In fine, we are +perfectly right in doing in behalf of a friend things that in our own +case would be decidedly unbecoming. There are also many ways in which +good men detract largely from their own comfort or suffer it to be +impaired, that a friend may have the enjoyment which they sacrifice. The +second opinion is that which limits kind offices and good will by the +rule of equality. This is simply making friendship a matter of +calculation with the view of keeping a debtor and creditor account +evenly balanced. To me friendship seems more affluent and generous and +not disposed to keep strict watch lest it may give more than it receives +and to fear that a part of its due may be spilled over or suffered to +leak out or that it may heap up its own measure over full in return. +[Footnote: We have here, first, a figure drawn from pecuniary accounts, +then one from liquid measure, then one from dry measure--all designed to +affix the brand of the most petty meanness on the (so called) friendship +which makes it a point neither to leave nor to brook a preponderance of +obligation on either side.] But worst of all is the third limit which +prescribes that friends shall take a man's opinion of himself as a +measure for their estimate and treatment of him. There are some persons +who are liable to fits of depression, or who have little hope of better +fortune than the present. In such a case, it is the part of a friend, +not to hold the position toward his friend which he holds toward +himself, but to make the efficient endeavor to rouse him from his +despondency, and to lead him to better hope and a more cheerful train of +thought. It remains for me then, to establish another limit of +friendship. But first let me tell you what Scipio was wont to speak of +with the severest censure. He maintained that no utterance could have +been invented more inimical to friendship [Footnote: Latin, _inimciorem_ +(that is, _in amiciorem_) _amicitiae_.] than that of him who said that +one ought to love as if he were going at some future time to hate, nor +could he be brought to believe that this maxim came, as was reported +from Bias, who was one of the seven wise men, but he regarded it as +having proceeded from some sordid person, who was either inordinately +ambitious or desirous of bringing everything under his own control. For +how can one be a friend to him to whom he thinks that he may possibly +become an enemy? In this case one would of necessity desire and choose +that his friend should commit offences very frequently, so as to give +him, so to speak, the more numerous handles for fault-finding, and on +the other hand one would be vexed, pained, aggrieved by all the right +and fitting things that friends do. This precept then from whomsoever it +came, amounts to the annulling of friendship. The proper rule should be, +that we exercise so much caution in forming friendships, that we should +never begin to love a friend whom it is possible that we should ever +hate; but even in case we should have been unfortunate in our choice, +Scipio thought that it would be wiser to bear the disappointment when it +comes than to keep the contingency of future alienation in view. + +17. I would then define the terms of friendship by saying that where +friends are of blameless character, there may fittingly be between them +a community of all interests, plans, and purposes without any exception +even so far that, if perchance there be occasion for furthering the not +entirely right wishes of friends when life or reputation is at stake, +one may in their behalf deviate somewhat from a perfectly straight +course [1] yet not so far as to + +[1 This at first sight appears like a license to yield up moral +considerations to friendship, though the qualification, in the sequel, +"not so far as to incur absolute dishonor," and "virtue is by no means +to be sacrificed," seem saving clauses. But Cicero certainly has a +right to be his own interpreter since in the _De Officiis_ as I think, +he explains in full and in accordance with the highest moral principle, +what he means here, and we have a double right to insist on this +interpretation first, because the _De Officiis_ was written so very +little while after the _De Amicitia_, and both at so ripe an age, that a +change of opinion on important matters was improbable and secondly, +because in the later treatise he expressly refers to the former as +giving in full his views on friendship, and thus virtually sanctions +that treatise. Now in the _De Officiis_ he says A good man will do +nothing against the State, or in violation of his oath of good faith, +for the sake of his friend, not even if he were a judge in his friend's +case. . . . He will yield so far to friendship as to wish his friend's +case to be worthy of succeeding, and to accommodate him as to the time +of trial, within legal limits. But inasmuch as he must give sentence +upon his oath, he will bear it in mind that he has "God for a witness." +In another passage of the _De Officiis,_ Cicero asserts, somewhat +hesitatingly, yet on the authority of Panaetius as the strictest of +Stoics, the moral rightfulness of "defending on some occasions a guilty +man, if he be not utterly depraved and false to all human relations." As +in the passage on which I am commenting special reference is made to the +peril of life or reputation, what Cicero contends for, as it seems to +me, is the right of defending a guilty friend as advocate, or of +favoring him as to time and mode of trial as a judge. Aulius Gellius, in +connection with this passage in _De Amicitia,_ tells the following story +of Chilo, who was on some of the lists of the seven wise men. Chilo, on +the last day of his life, said that the only thing that gave him uneasy +thought, and was burdensome to his conscience, was that once when he and +two other men were judges in a case in which a friend of his was tried +for a capital crime, he, in accordance with his own conviction, voted +his friendy guilty, but so influenced the minds of his two associates +that they gave their voice for his acquittal.] + +incur absolute dishonor. There is a point up to which a concession made +to friendship is venial. But we are not bound to be careless of our own +reputation, nor ought we to regard the esteem of our fellow-citizens as +an instrument of such affairs as devolve upon us,--an esteem which it is +base to conciliate [footnote: Latin, _colligere,_ to collect, or gather +up, one by one, the good-will of each individual citizen.] by flattery +and fawning. Virtue, which has the sincere regard of the people as its +consequence, is by no means to be sacrificed to friendship. + +But, to return to Scipio, who was all the time talking about friendship, +he often complained that men exercised greater care about all other +matters; that one could always tell how many goats and sheep he had, but +could not tell how many friends he had; and that men were careful in +selecting their beasts, but were negligent in the choice of friends, and +had nothing like marks and tokens [footnote: Latin, _signa et notas,_ +the marks and tokens by which the quality and worth of goats and sheep +were estimated.] by which to determine the fitness of friends. + +Firm, steadfast, self-consistent men are to be chosen as friends, and of +this kind of men there is a great dearth. It is very difficult to judge +of character before we have tested it; but we can test it only after +firendship is begun. Thus friendship is prone to outrun judgment, and to +render a fair trial impossible. It is therefore the part of a wise man +to arrest the impulse of kindly feeling, as we check a carriage in its +course, that, as we use only horses that have been tried, so we may +avail ourselves of friendships in which the characters of our friends +have been somehow put to the test. Some readily show how fickle their +friendship is in paltry pecuniary matters; others, whom a slight +consideration of that kind cannot influence, betray themselves when a +large amount is involved. But if some can be found who think it mean to +prefer money to friendship, where shall we come upon those who do not +put honors, civic offices, military commands, places of power and trust, +before friendship, so that when these are offered on the one hand, and +the claims of friendship on the other, they will much rather make choice +of the objects of ambition? For nature is too feeble to despise a +commanding station, and even though it be obtained by the violation of +friendship men think that this fault will be thrown into obscurity, +because it was not without a weighty motive that they held friendship in +abeyance. Thus true friendships are rare among those who are in public +office, and concerned in the affairs of the State. For where will you +find him who prefers a friend's promotion to his own? What more shall I +say? Not to dwell longer on the influence of ambition upon friendship, +how burdensome how difficult does it seem to most men to share +misfortunes to which it is not easy to find those who are willing to +stoop. Although Ennius is right in saying + +"In unsure fortune a sure friend is seen," + +yet one of these two things convicts most persons of fickleness and +weakness,--either their despising their friends when they themselves are +prosperous, or deserting their friends in adversity. + +18 Him, then, who alike in either event shall have shown himself +unwavering, constant, firm in friendship we ought to regard as of an +exceedingly rare and almost divine order of men. + +Still further good faith is essential to the maintenance of the +stability and constancy which we demand in friendship, for nothing that +is unfaithful is stable. It is, moreover, fitting to choose tor a friend +one who is frank, affable, accommodating, interested in the same things +with ourselves,--all which qualities come under the head of fidelity, +for a changeful and wily disposition cannot be faithful, nor can he who +has not like interests and a kindred nature with his friend be either +faithful or stable. I ought to add that a friend should neither take +pleasure in finding fault with his friend, nor give credit to the +charges which others may bring against him,--all which is implied in the +constancy of which I have been speaking. Thus we come back to the truth +which I announced at the beginning of our conversation, that friendship +can exist only between the good. It is, indeed, the part of a good or-- +what is the same thing--a wise man [Footnote: Wisdom and goodness were +identical with the Stoics.] to adhere to these two principles in +friendship,--first, that he tolerate no feigning or dissembling (for an +ingenuous man will rather show even open hatred than hide his feeling by +his face), and, secondly, that he not only repel charges made against +his friend by others, but that he be not himself suspicious, and always +thinking that his friend has done something unfriendly. + +To these requisites there may well be added suavity of speech and +manners, which is of no little worth as giving a relish to the +intercourse of friendship. Rigidness and austerity of demeanor on every +occasion indeed carry weight with them, but friendship ought to be more +gentle and mild, and more inclined to all that is genial and affable. + +19 There occurs here a question by no means difficult,[Footnote: Latin, +_subdifficilis_ which I should render _somewhat difficult_ had not +Cicero treat that question as one that presents no difficulty. In the +ancient tongues, as in our own or even more than in our own, a word is +often better defined by its use than in the dictionary.] whether at any +time new friends worthy of our love are to be preferred to the old, as +we are wont to prefer young horses to those that have passed their +prime. Shame that there should be hesitation as to the answer! There +ought to be no satiety of friendships, as there is rightly of many other +things. The older a friendship is, the more precious should it be as is +the case with wines that will bear keeping, [Footnote: Some of the best +Italian wines will not "bear keeping," and it was probably true of more +of them in Cicero's time than now that wines are so often vitiated by +strong alcoholic mixtures in order to preserve them. Cato, in his _De Re +Rustica_, prescribes a method of determining whether the wine of any +given vintage will "keep".] and there is truth in the proverb that many +pecks of salt must be eaten together to bring friendship to perfection. +[Footnote: Aristotle quotes this as a proverbial saying, so that it must +be of very great antiquity.] If new friendships offer the hope of fruit, +like the young shoots in the grain-field that give promise of harvest, +they are not indeed to be spurned, yet the old are to be kept in their +place. There is very great power in long habit. To recur to the horse +there is no one who would not rather use the horse to which he has +become accustomed, if he is still sound, than one unbroken and new. Nor +has habit this power merely as to the movements of an animal, it +prevails no less as to inanimate objects. We are charmed with the places +though mountainous and woody, [Footnote: Therefore uninviting, for +mountain and forest had not in early time the charm which we find in +them. Indeed the love of nature uncultivated and unadorned is for the +most part, of modern growth.] where we have made a long sojourn. But +what is most remarkable in friendship is that it puts a man on an +equality with his inferior. For there often are in a circle of friends +those who excel the rest, as was the case with Scipio in our flock, if I +may use the word. He never assumed superiority over Philus, never over +Rupilius, never over Mummius, never over friends of an order lower than +his own. Indeed he always reverenced as a superior, because older than +himself, his brother Quintus Maximus [Footnote: Quintus Fabius Maximus +Aemilianus, the eldest son of Aemilius Paulus, and the adopted son of +Fabius Maximus.] a thoroughly worthy man, but by no means his equal, and +in fact he wanted to make all his friends of the more consequence by +whatever advantages he himself possessed. This example all ought to +imitate, that if they have attained any superiority of virtue, genius, +fortune, they may impart it to and share it with those with whom they +are the most closely connected; and that if they are of humble +parentage, and have kindred of slender ability or fortune, they may +increase their means of well-being, and reflect honor and worth upon +them,--as in fable those who were long in servile condition through +ignorance of their parentage and race, when they were recognized and +found to be sons either of gods or of kings, retained their love for the +shepherds whom for many years they supposed to be their fathers. Much +more ought the like to be done in the case of real and well-known +fathers; for the best fruit of genius, and virtue, and every kind of +excellence is reaped when it is thus bestowed on near kindred and +friends. + +20. Moreover, as among persons bound by ties of friendship and intimacy +those who hold the higher place ought to bring themselves down to the +same plane with their inferiors, so ought these last not to feel +aggrieved because they are surpassed in ability, or fortune, or rank by +their friends. Most of them, however, are always finding some ground of +complaint, or even of reproach, especially if they can plead any service +that they have rendered faithfully, in a friendly way, and with a +certain amount of painstaking on their part. Such men, indeed, are +hateful when they reproach their friends on the score of services which +he on whom they were bestowed ought to bear in mind, but which it is +unbecoming for him who conferred them to recount. + +Those who are superior ought, undoubtedly, not only to waive all +pretension in friendly intercourse, but to do what they can to raise +their humbler friends to their own level.[l] There are some who give +their friends trouble by imagining that they are held in low esteem, +which, however, is not apt to be the case except with those who think +meanly of themselves. Those who feel thus ought to be raised to a just +self-esteem, not only by kind words, but by substantial service. But +what you do for any one must be measured, first by your own ability, and +then by the capacity of him whom you would favor and help. For, however +great your influence may be, you cannot raise all your friends to the +highest positions. Thus Scipio could effect the election of Publius +Rupilius to the consulship; but he could not do the same for his brother +Lucius.[2] In general, friendships that are properly so called are +formed between persons of mature years and established character; nor if +young men have been fond of hunting or of ball-playing, is there any +need of permanent attachment to those whom they then liked as associates +in the same sport. On this principle our nurses and the slaves that led +us to school will demand by right of priority the highest grade + +[1 Or, as it might be rendered by supplying a _se_ "so ought the humbler +to do what they can to raise themselves." Some of the commentators +prefer this sense; but if Cicero meant _se,_ I think that he would have +written it.] + +[2 The brother of Publius Rupilius, not his own brother.] + +of affectionate regard,--persons, indeed, who are not to be neglected, +but who are on a somewhat different footing from that of friends. +Friendships formed solely from early associations cannot last; for +differences of character grow out of a diversity of pursuits, and +unlikeness of character dissolves friendships. Nor is there any reason +why good men cannot be the friends of bad men, or bad men of good, +except that the dissiliency of pursuits and of character between them is +as great as it can be. + +It is also a counsel worthy of heed, that excessive fondness be not +suffered to interfere, as it does too often, with important services +that a friend can render. To resort again to fable, Neoptolemus could +not have taken Troy [Footnote: Or rather, could not have borne the +indispensable part which it was predicted that he should bear in the +taking of Troy.]if he had chosen to comply with the wishes of Lycomedes, +who brought him up, and who with many tears attempted to dissuade him +from his expedition. Equally in actual life there are not infrequently +important occasions on which the society of friends must be for a time +abandoned; and he who would prevent this because he cannot easily bear +the separation, is of a weak and unmanly nature, and for that very +reason unfit to fill the place of a friend. In fine, in all matters you +should take into consideration both what you may reasonably demand of +your friend, and what you can fitly suffer him to obtain from you. + +21. The misfortune involved in the dissolution of friendships is +sometimes unavoidable; for I am now coming down from the intimacies of +wise men to common friendships. Faults of friends often betray +themselves openly--whether to the injury of their friends themselves, or +of strangers--in such a way that the disgrace falls back upon their +friends. Such friendships are to be effaced by the suspension of +intercourse, and, as I have heard Cato say, to be unstitched rather than +cut asunder, unless some quite intolerable offence flames out to full +view, so that it can be neither right nor honorable not to effect an +immediate separation and dissevering. But if there shall have been some +change either in character or in the habits of life, or if there have +sprung up some difference of opinion as to public affairs,--I am +speaking, as I have just said, of common friendships, not of those +between wise men,--care should be taken lest there be the appearance, +not only of friendship dropped, but of enmity taken up; for nothing is +more unbecoming than to wage war with a man with whom you have lived on +terms of intimacy. Scipio, as you know, had withdrawn from the +friendship of Quintus Pompeius [Footnote: Laelius intending to present +himself as a candidate for the consulship, Scipio asked Pompeius whether +he was going to be a candidate, and when he replied in the negative, +asked him to use his influence in behalf of Laelius. This Pompeius +promised, and then, instead of being true to his word, offered himself +for the consulship, and was elected.] on my account, he became alienated +from Metellus [Footnote: Scipio and Metellus, though their intimacy was +suspended for political reasons, held each other in the highest regard, +and no person in Rome expressed profounder sorrow than Metellus for +Scipio's death or was more warm in his praise as a man of unparalleled +ability, worth, and patriotism.] because of their different views as to +the administration of the State. In both cases he conducted himself with +gravity and dignity, and without any feeling of bitterness. The endeavor +then, must first be, to prevent discord from taking place among friends, +and if anything of the kind occurs, to see that the friendship may seem +to be extinguished rather than crushed out. Care must thus be taken lest +friendships lapse into violent enmities, whence are generated quarrels, +slanders, insults, which yet, if not utterly intolerable, are to be +endured and this honor tendered to old friendship that the blame may +rest with him who does not with him who suffers the wrong. + +The one surety and preventive against these mistakes and misfortunes is, +not to form attachments too soon, nor for those unworthy of such regard. +But it is those in whose very selves there is reason why they should be +loved, that are worthy of friendship. A rare class of men! Indeed, +superlatively excellent objects of every sort are rare, nor is anything +more difficult than to discover that which is in all respects perfect in +its kind. But most persons have acquired the habit of recognizing +nothing as good in human relations and affairs that does not produce +some revenue, and they most love those friends, as they do those cattle, +that will yield them the greatest gain. Thus they lack that most +beautiful and most natural friendship, which is to be sought in itself +and for its own sake, nor can they know from experience what and how +great is the power of such friendship. One loves himself, not in order +to exact from himself any wages for such love, but because he is in +himself dear to himself. Now, unless this same property be transferred +to friendship, a true friend will never be found, for such a friend is, +as it were, another self. But if it is seen in beasts, birds, fishes, +animals tame and wild, that they first love themselves (for self-love is +born with everything that lives) and that they then require and seek +those of their kind to whom they may attach themselves, and do so with +desire and with a certain semblance of human love, how much more is this +natural in man, who both loves himself, and craves another whose soul he +may so blend with his own as almost to make one out of two. + +22 But men in general are so perverse, not to say shameless, as to wish +a friend to be in character what they themselves could not be and they +expect of friends what they do not give them in return. The proper +course however, is for one first to be himself a good man, and then to +seek another like himself. In such persons the stability of friendship, +of which I have been speaking, can be made sure, since, united in mutual +love, they will, in the first place, hold in subjection the desires to +which others are enslaved; then they will find delight in whatever is +equitable and just, and each will take upon himself any labor or burden +in the other's stead, while neither will ever ask of the other aught +that is not honorable and right. Nor will they merely cherish and love, +they will even reverence each other. But he who bereaves friendship of +mutual respect [1] takes from it its greatest ornament. Therefore those +are in fatal error who think that in friendship there is free license +for all lusts and evil practices. Friendship is given by nature, not as +a companion of the vices, but as a helper of the virtues, that, as +solitary virtue might not be able to attain the summit of excellence, +united and associated with another it might reach that eminence. As to +those between whom there is, or has been, or shall be such an alliance, +the fellowship is to be regarded as the best and happiest possible, +inasmuch as it leads to the highest good that nature can bestow. This is +the alliance, I say, in which are included all things that men think +worthy their endeavor,--honor, fame, peace of mind, and pleasure, so +that if these be present life is happy, and cannot be happy without +them. Such a life being the best + +[1 Latin, _verecundio,_ an indefinite word; for it may have almost any +good meaning. I have rendered it _respect_, because I have no doubt that +it derives its meaning here from _verebuntur_, which I have rendered +_reverence_, in the preceding sentence.] + +and greatest boon, if we wish to make it ours, we must devote ourselves +to the cultivation of virtue, without which we can attain neither +friendship nor anything else desirable. But if virtue be left out of the +account, those who think that they have friends perceive that they are +mistaken when some important crisis compels them to put their friends to +the test. Therefore--for it is worth reiterating--you ought to love +after having exercised your judgment on your friends, instead of forming +your judgment of them after you have begun to love them. But while in +many things we are chargeable with carelessness, we are most so in +choosing and keeping our friends. We reverse the old proverb, [Footnote: +What this proverb may have been we cannot determine with precision from +its opposite; but the caution based upon it might remind one of our +proverb about shutting the barn door after the horse is stolen. The +words, _acta agimus,_ so terse that they can be translated only by a +paraphrase, are probably the converse of the proverb, which may have +been something like _non agenda sunt acta_.] take counsel after acting, +and attempt to do over again what we have done; for after having become +closely connected by long habit and even by mutual services, some +occasion of offence springs up, and we suddenly break in sunder a +friendship in full career. + +23. The more blameworthy are they who are so very careless in a matter +of so essential importance. Indeed, among things appertaining to human +life, it is friendship alone that has the unanimous voice of all men as +to its capacity of service. By many even virtue is scorned, and is said +to be a mere matter of display and ostentation. Many despise wealth, and +contented with little take pleasure in slender diet and inexpensive +living. Though some are inflamed with desire for office, many there are +who hold it in so low esteem that they can imagine nothing more inane or +worthless. Other things too, which seem to some admirable, very many +regard as of no value. But all have the same feeling as to friendship,-- +alike those who devote themselves to the public service, those who take +delight in learning and philosophy, those who manage their own affairs +in a quiet way, and, lastly, those who are wholly given up to sensual +pleasure. They all agree that without friendship life cannot be, if one +only means to live in some form or measure respectably. [Footnote: Latin +_liberaliter_ that is, worthily of a free man.] For friendship somehow +twines through all lives and leaves no mode of being without its +presence. Even if one be of so rude and savage a nature as to shun and +hate the society of men, as we have learned was the case with that Timon +of Athens, [Footnote: Plutarch says that Timon had an associate, +virtually a friend, not unlike himself, Apemantus, on whom he freely +vented his spite and scorn for all the world beside and that he also +took a special liking to Alcibiades in his youth, perhaps as to one +fitted and destined to do an untold amount of mischief.] if there ever +was such a man [Footnote: Latin, _nescio, quem_, I know not whom, or of +whom I am ignorant, that is, there may or may not have been such a man.] +he yet cannot help seeking some one in whose presence he may vomit the +venom of his bitterness. The need of friendship would be best shown, +were such a thing possible, if some god should take us away from this +human crowd, and place us anywhere in solitude, giving us there an +abundant supply of all things that nature craves but depriving us +utterly of the sight of a human countenance. Who could be found of so +iron make that he could endure [Footnote: Latin, tam ... _ferreus,_ qiu +... _ferre_ posset,--an assonance which cannot be represented by +corresponding English words.] such a life, and whom solitude would not +render incapable of enjoying any kind of pleasure? That is true then +which, if I remember aright, our elders used to say that they had heard +from their seniors in age as having come from Archytas of Tarentum--"If +one had ascended to heaven and had obtained a full view of the nature of +the universe and the beauty of the stars, yet his admiration would be +without delight, if there were no one to whom he could tell what he had +seen" Thus Nature has no love for solitude, and always leans as it were, +on some support, and the sweetest support is found in the most intimate +friendship. + +24 But while Nature declares by so many tokens what she desires, craves, +needs, we--I know not how--grow deaf, and fail to hear her counsel. + +Intercourse among friends assumes many different forms and modes, and +there frequently arise causes of suspicion and offence, which it is the +part of a wise man sometimes to avoid, sometimes to remove, sometimes to +bear. One ground of offence, namely, freedom in telling the truth, must +be put entirely away, in order that friendship may retain its +serviceableness and its good faith, for friends often need to be +admonished and reproved, and such offices, when kindly performed, ought +to be received in a friendly way. Yet somehow we witness in actual life, +what my friend [Footnote: Terence with whom Laelius was so intimate that +he was reported probably on no sufficient ground to have aided in the +composition of some of the plays that bear Terence's name. This verse is +from the _Andria._] says in his play of _Andria_-- + + +"Complacency *[Footnote: _Obsequium_] wins friends, but truth gives +birth to hatred." + +Truth is offensive, if hatred, the bane of friendship is indeed born of +it, but much more offensive is complacency, when in its indulgence for +wrong doing it suffers a friend to go headlong to ruin. The greatest +blame, however, rests on him who both spurns the truth when it is told +him and is driven by the complacency of friends to self-deception. In +this matter therefore there should be the utmost discretion and care, +first, that admonition be without bitterness, then, that reproof be +without invective. But in complacency--for I am ready to use the word +which Terence furnishes--let pleasing truth be told, let flattery, the +handmaid of the vices be put far away, as unworthy, not only of a +friend, but of any man above the condition of a slave, for there is one +way of living with a tyrant, another with a friend. We may well despair +of saving him whose ears are so closed to the truth that he cannot hear +what is true from a friend. Among the many pithy sayings of Cato was +this 'There are some who owe more to their bitter enemies than to the +friends that seem sweet, for those often tell the truth, these never'. +It is indeed ridiculous for those who are admonished not to be annoyed +by what ought to trouble them, and to be annoyed by what ought to give +them no offence. Their faults give them no pain, they take it hard that +they are reproved,--while they ought, on the contrary, to be grieved for +their wrong-doing, to rejoice in their correction. + +25 As, then, it belongs to friendship both to admonish and to be +admonished, and to do the former freely, yet not harshly, to receive the +latter patiently not resentfully, so it is to be maintained that +friendship has no greater pest than adulation, flattery, subserviency, +for under its many names [Footnote: Latin _multis nominibus,_ which some +commentators render "on many accounts" with reference to matters of +purchase and sale, debit and credit. But I think that Cicero brings in +_adulatio, blanditia, and assentatio,_ as so many synonyms of +_obsequtum,_ intending to comprehend in his indictment whatever alias +the one vice may assume.] a brand should be put on this vice of fickle +and deceitful men, who say everything with the view of giving pleasure, +without any reference to the truth. While simulation is bad on every +account, inasmuch as it renders the discernment of the truth which it +defaces impossible, it is most of all inimical to friendship; for it is +fatal to sincerity, without which the name of friendship ceases to have +any meaning. For since the essence of friendship consists in this, that +one mind is, as it were, made out of seveial, how can this be, if in one +of the several there shall be not always one and the same mind, but a +mind varying, changeful, manifold? And what can be so flexible, so far +out of its rightful course, as the mind of him who adapts himself, not +only to the feelings and wishes, but een to the look and gesture, of +another? + + +"Does one say No or Yes? I say so too My rule is to assent to +everything," + +as Terence, whom I have just quoted, says, but he says it in the person +of Gnatho,[Footnote: A parasite in Terence's play of _Eunuchus_, from +which these verses are quoted.]--a sort of friend which only a frivolous +mind can tolerate. But as there are many like Gnatho, who stand higher +than he did in place, fortune, and reputation, then subserviency is the +more offensive, because then position gives weight to their falsehood. + +But a flattering friend may be distinguished and discriminated from a +true friend by proper care, as easily as everything disguised and +feigned is seen to differ from what is genuine and real. The assembly of +the people, though consisting of persons who have the least skill in +judgment, yet always knows the difference between him who, merely +seeking popularity, is sycophantic and fickle, and a firm inflexible, +and substantial citizen. With what soft words did Caius Papirius +[Footnote: Caius Papirius Carbo, the suspected murderer of Scipio.] +steal [Footnote: Latin _influebat_ flowed in, a figure beautifully +appropriate, but hardly translatable.] into the ears of the assembly a +little while ago, when he brought forward the law about the re-election +of the tribunes of the people! [Footnote: There was an old law, which +prohibited the re-election of a citizen to the same office till after an +interval of ten years. In the law here referred to, Carbo--then tribune +--sought to provide for the re-election of tribunes as soon and as often +as the people might choose, thus undoubtedly hoping to secure for +himself a permanent tenure of office.] I opposed the law. But, to say +nothing of myself, I will rather speak of Scipio. How great, ye immortal +gods, was his dignity of bearing! What majesty of address! So that you +might easily call him the leader of the Roman people, rather than one of +their number. But you were there, and you have copies of his speech. +Thus the law was rejected by vote of the people. But, to return to +myself, you remember, when Quintus Maximus, Scipio's brother, and Lucius +Mancinus were Consuls, how much the people seemed to favor the law of +Caius Licinius Crassus about the priests. The law proposed to transfer +the election of priests from their own respective colleges to the +suffrage of the people; [Footnote: The several pontifical colleges had +been close corporations, filling their own vacancies. The law which +Laelius defeated proposed transferring the election of priests to the +people.] and he on that occasion introduced the custom of facing the +people in addressing them [Footnote: It had been customary, when the +Senate was in session, for him who harangued the people to face the +temple where the Senate sat, thus virtually recognizing the supreme +authority of that body.] Yet under my advocacy the religion of the +immortal gods obtained the ascendancy over his plausible speech. That +was during my praetorship, five years before I was chosen Consul. Thus +the cause was gained by its own merits rather than by official +authority. + +26. But if on the stage, or--what is the same thing--in the assembly of +the people, in which there is ample scope for false and distorted +representations, the truth only needs to be made plain and clear in +order for it to prevail, what ought to be the case in friendship, which +is entirely dependent for its value on truth,--in which unless, as the +phrase is, you see an open bosom and show your own, you can have nothing +worthy of confidence, nothing of which you can feel certain, not even +the fact of your loving or being loved, since you are ignorant of what +either really is? Yet this flattery of which I have spoken, harmful as +it is, can injure only him who takes it in and is delighted with it. +Thus it is the case that he is most ready to open his ear to flattery, +who flatters himself and finds supreme delight in himself. Virtue indeed +loves itself; for it has thorough knowledge of itself, and understands +how worthy of love it is. But it is reputed, not real, virtue of which I +am now speaking; for there are not so many possessed of virtue as there +are that desire to seem virtuous. These last are delighted with +flattery, and when false statements are framed purposely to satisfy and +please them, they take the falsehood as valid testimony to their merit. +That, however, is no friendship, in which one of the (so-called) friends +does not want to hear the truth, and the other is ready to lie. The +flattery of parasites on the stage would not seem amusing, were there +not in the play braggart soldiers [Footnote: Latin, _milites gloriosi. +Miles Gloriosus_ is the title of one of the comedies of Plautus; and one +of the stock characters of the ancient comedy is a conceited, +swaggering, brainless soldier, who is perpetually boasting of his own +valor and exploits, and who takes the most fulsome and ridiculous +flattery as the due recognition of his transcendent merit. The verse +here quoted is from Terence's _Eunuchus_. Thraso, a _miles gloriosus_ +(from whom is derived our adjective _thrasonical_), asks this question +of Gnatho, the parasite, one of whose speeches is quoted in § 25. +_Magnus_ is the word in the question; _ingentes_, in the answer.] to be +flattered. + + +"Great thanks indeed did Thais render to me?" + +"Great" was a sufficient answer; but the answer in the play is +"Prodigious." The flatterer always magnifies what he whom he is aiming +to please wishes to have great. But while this smooth falsehood takes +effect only with those who themselves attract and invite it; even +persons of a more substantial and solid character need to be warned to +be on their guard, lest they be ensnared by flattery of a more cunning +type. No one who has a moderate share of common-sense fails to detect +the open flatterer; but great care must be taken lest the wily and +covert flatterer may insinuate himself; for he is not very easily +recognized, since he often assents by opposing, plays the game of +disputing in a smooth, caressing way, and at length submits, and suffers +himself to be outreasoned, so as to make him on whom he is practising +his arts appear to have had the deeper insight. But what is more +disgraceful than to be made game of? One must take heed not to put +himself in the condition of the character in the play of _The Heiress:_ +[Footnote: _Epicleros_, a comedy by Caecilius Statius, of whose works +only a few fragments, like this, are extant. Next to the braggart +soldier, a credulous old man-generally a father-who could have all +manner of tricks played upon him without detecting their import, was the +favorite butt for ridicule in the ancient comedy.] + + +"Of an old fool one never made such sport As you have made of me this +very day;" + + +for there is no character on the stage so foolish as that of these +unwary and credulous old men. But I know not how my discourse has +digressed from the friendships of perfect, that is, of wise men,--wise, +I mean, so far as wisdom can fall to the lot of man,--to friendships of +a lighter sort. Let us then return to our original subject, and bring it +to a speedy conclusion. + + +27. Virtue, I say to you, Caius Fannius, and to you, Quintus Mucius,-- +virtue both forms and preserves friendships. In it is mutual agreement; +in it is stability; in it is consistency of conduct and character. When +it has put itself forth and shown its light, and has seen and recognized +the same light in another, it draws near to that light, and receives in +return what the other has to give; and from this intercourse love, or +friendship,--call it which you may,--is kindled. These terms are equally +derived in our language from loving; [Footnote: +_Amor_..._amicitia_..._ab amando_.] and to love is nothing else than to +cherish affection for him whom you love, with no felt need of his +service, with no quest of benefit to be obtained from him; while, +nevertheless, serviceableness blooms out from friendship, however little +you may have had it in view. With this affection I in my youth loved +those old men,--Lucius Paulus, Marcus Cato, Caius Gallus, Publius +Nasica, Tiberius Gracchus, the father-in-law of my friend Scipio. This +relation is more conspicuous among those of the same age, as between +myself and Scipio, Lucius Furius, Publius Rupilius, Spurius Mummius. But +in my turn, as an old man, I find repose in the attachment of young men, +as in yours, and in that of Quintus Tubero, and I am delighted with the +intimacy of Publius Rutilius and Aulus Virginius, who are just emerging +from boyhood. While the order of human life and of nature is such that +another generation must come upon the stage, it would be most desirable, +could such a thing be, to reach the goal, so to speak, with those of our +own age with whom we started on the race; but since man's life is frail +and precarious, we ought always to be in quest of some younger persons +whom we may love, and who will love us in return; for when love and +kindness cease all enjoyment is taken out of life. + +For me indeed, Scipio, though suddenly snatched away, still lives and +will always live; for I loved the virtue of the man, which is not +extinguished. Nor does it float before my eyes only, as I have always +had it at hand; it will also be renowned and illustrious with +generations to come. No one will ever enter with courage and hope on a +high and noble career, without proposing to himself as a standard the +memory and image of his virtue. Indeed, of all things which fortune or +nature ever gave me, I have nothing that I can compare with the +friendship of Scipio. In this there was a common feeling as to the +affairs of the State; in this, mutual counsel as to our private +concerns; in this, too, a repose full of delight. Never, so far as I +know, did I offend him in the least thing; never did I hear from him a +word which I would not wish to hear. We had one home; [Footnote: This +may refer to their living together on their campaigns, journeys, and +rural sojourns; but more probably to the fact that each felt as much at +home in the other's house as in his own.] the same diet, and that +simple; [Footnote: Latin, _communis_. I do not find that this word has +in Latin the sense of _cheap_ and _mean_ which our word _common_ has. +But here it cannot mean that Laelius and Scipio fed together, which is +sufficiently said in the preceding _idem victus_. It must therefore +denote such fare as was common to them with their fellow-citizens in +general, and that is simple and not luxurious fare.] we were together, +not only in military service, but also in journeying and in our rural +sojourns. And what shall I say of our unflagging zeal in the pursuit of +knowledge, and in learning everything now within our reach,--an +employment in which, when not under the eyes of the public, we passed +all our leisure time together? Had the recollection and remembrance of +these things died with him, I could not anyhow bear the loss of a man, +thus bound to me in the closest intimacy and holding me in the dearest +love. But they are not blotted out, they are rather nourished and +increased by reflection and memory; and were I entirely bereft of them, +my advanced age would still be my great comfort, for I can miss his +society but for a brief season, and all sorrows, however heavy, if they +can last but a little while, ought to be endured. + +I had these things to say to you about friendship; and I exhort you that +you so give the foremost place to virtue without which friendship cannot +be, that with the sole exception of virtue, you may think nothing to be +preferred to friendship. + + +SCIPIO'S DREAM. + + +1. When I arrived in Africa, to serve, as you know, in the office of +military Tribune of the fourth Legion, under Manius [Footnote: The +praenomen _Marcus_ is given to Manilius in the manuscript of the _De +Republics_ discovered by Angelo Mai; but Manius is the reading in all +previous authorities as to this special fragment.] Manilius as consul, I +desired nothing so much as to meet Masinissa [Footnote: King of +Numidia,--a country nearly identical in extent with the present province +of Algeria. Its name defines its people, being derived from [Greek: +nomades], _nomads._ Its inhabitants were a wild, semi-savage cluster of +tribes, black and white. Masinissa, though faithful to the Romans after +he had convinced himself that theirs must be the ascendant star, was a +crafty, treacherous, cruel prince, probably with enough of civilization +to have acquired some of its vices, while he had not lost those of the +savage.] the king, who for sufficient reasons [Footnote: The elder +Africanus had confirmed him in the possession of his own Numidia, and +had added to it the adjoining kingdom of Cirta.] stood in the most +friendly relation to our family. When I came to him, the old man +embraced me with tears, and shortly afterward looked up to heaven and +said: "I thank thee, sovereign Sun, [Footnote: The Numidians worshipped +the heavenly bodies.] and all of you lesser lights of heaven, that +before I pass away from this life I behold in my kingdom and beneath +this roof Publius Cornelius Scipio, whose very name renews my strength, +so utterly inseparable from my thought is the memory of that best and +most invincible of men who first bore it." Then I questioned him about +his kingdom, and he asked me about our republic; and with the many +things that we had to communicate to each other, the day wore away. + +At a later hour, after an entertainment of royal magnificence, we +prolonged our conversation far into the night, while the old man talked +to me about nothing else but Africanus, rehearsing not only all that he +had done, but all that he had said. When we parted to go to our rest, +sleep took a stronger hold on me than usual, on account both of the +fatigue of my journey and of the lateness of the hour. In my sleep, I +suppose in consequence of our conversation (for generally our thoughts +and utterances by day have in our sleep an effect like that which Ennius +describes in his own case as to Homer, [Footnote: The first verse of the +_Annales_ of Ennius was:-- + +"In somnis mihi visus Homerus adesse poeta."] + +about whom in his waking hours he was perpetually thinking and talking), +Africanus appeared to me, with an aspect that reminded me more of his +bust than of his real face. I shuddered when I saw him. But he said: +"Preserve your presence of mind, Scipio; be not afraid, and commit to +memory what I shall say to you. + +2. "Do you see that city, which was brought through me into subjection +to the Roman people, but now renews its old hostility, and cannot remain +quiet,"--and he showed me Carthage from a high place full of stars, +shining and splendid,--"against which you, being little more than a +common soldier, are coming to fight? In two years from now you as Consul +will overthrow this city, and you will obtain of your own right the +surname which up to this time you hold as inherited from me. When you +shall have destroyed Carthage, shall have celebrated your triumph over +it, shall have been Censor, and shall have traversed, as an ambassador, +Egypt, Syria, Asia, and Greece, you will be chosen a second time Consul +in your absence, and will put an end to one of the greatest of wars by +extirpating Numantia. But when you shall be borne to the Capitol in your +triumphal chariot after this war, you will find the State disturbed by +the machinations of my grandson. [Footnote: Tiberius Gracchus, whose +mother, Cornelia, was the daughter of the elder Africanus.] + +"In this emergency, Africanus, it will behoove you to show your country +the light of your energy, genius, and wisdom. But I see at that time, as +it were, a double way of destiny. For when your age shall have followed +the sun for eight times seven revolutions, and these two numbers +[Footnote: The Pythagoreans regarded seven as the number representing +light, and eight as representing love. Seven was also a perfect number, +as corresponding to the number of celestial orbits (including the sun, +the moon, and the five known planets), the number of days in the quarter +of the moon's revolution, and the number of the gates of sense (so to +speak), mouth, eyes, ears, and nostrils. Eight was a perfect number, as +being first after unity on the list of cubes; and Plato in the _Timaeus_ +speaks of eight celestial revolutions--including that of the earth--as +unequal in duration and velocity, but as forming, in some unexplained +way, a cycle synchronous with the year.]--each perfect, though for +different reasons--shall have completed for you in the course of nature +the destined period, to you alone and to your name the whole city will +turn; on you the Senate will look, on you all good citizens, on you the +allies, on you the Latini. You will he the one man on whom the safety of +the city will rest; and, to say no more, you, as Dictator, must re- +establish the State, if you escape the impious hands of your kindred." +[Footnote: See _De Amicitia_ § 3, note.] Here, when Laelius had cried +out, and the rest of the company had breathed deep sighs, Scipio, +smiling pleasantly upon them, said, "I beg you not to rouse me from +sleep and break up my vision. Hear the remainder of it." + +3. "But that you, Africanus, may be the more prompt in the defence of +the State, know that for all who shall have preserved, succored, +enlarged their country, there is a certain and determined place in +heaven where they enjoy eternal happiness; for to the Supreme God who +governs this whole universe nothing is more pleasing than those +companies and unions of men that are called cities. Of these the rulers +and preservers, going hence, return hither." + +Here I, although I had been alarmed, not indeed so much by the fear of +death as by that of the treachery of my own kindred, yet asked whether +Paulus, my father, and others whom we supposed to be dead were living. +"Yes, indeed," he replied, "those who have fled from the bonds of the +body, like runners from the goal, live; while what is called your life +is death. But do you see your father Paulus coming to you?" When I saw +him, I shed a flood of tears; but he, embracing and kissing me, forbade +my weeping. + +Then as soon as my tears would suffer me to speak, I began by saying, +"Most sacred and excellent father, since this is life, as Africanus +tells me, why do I remain on the earth, and not rather hasten to come to +you?" "Not so," said he; "for unless the God who has for his temple all +that you now behold, shall have freed you from this prison of the body, +there can be no entrance for you hither. Men have indeed been brought +into being on this condition, that they should guard the globe which you +see in the midst of this temple, which is called the earth; and a soul +has been given to them from those eternal fires which you call +constellations and stars, which, globed and round, animated with god- +derived minds, complete their courses and move through their orbits with +amazing speed. You, therefore, Publius, and all rightly disposed men are +bound to retain the soul in the body's keeping, nor without the command +of him who gave it to you to depart from the life appointed for man, +lest you may seem to have taken flight from human duty as assigned by +God. But, Scipio, like this your grandfather, [Footnote: By adoption. +The younger Africanus was adopted by a son of the elder.] like me, your +father, cherish justice and that sacred observance of duty to your kind, +which, while of great worth toward parents and family, is of supreme +value toward your country. Such a life is the way to heaven, and to this +assembly of those who have already lived, and, released from the body, +inhabit the place which you now see,"--it was that circle that shines +forth among the stars in the most dazzling white,--"which you have +learned from the Greeks to call the Milky Way." And as I looked on every +side I saw other things transcendently glorious and wonderful. There +were stars which we never see from here below, and all the stars were +vast far beyond what we have ever imagined. The least of them was that +which, farthest from heaven, nearest to the earth, shone with a borrowed +light. But the starry globes very far surpassed the earth in magnitude. +The earth itself indeed looked to me so small as to make me ashamed of +our empire, which was a mere point on its surface. + +4. While I was gazing more intently on the earth, Africanus said: "How +long, I pray you, will your mind be fastened on the ground? Do you not +see into the midst of what temples you have come? In your sight are nine +orbs, or rather globes, by which all things are held together. One is +the celestial, the outermost, embracing all the rest,--the Supreme God +himself, [Footnote: Here crops out the Pantheism--the non-detachment or +semi-detachment of God from nature--which casts a penumbra around +monotheism and the approaches to it, almost always, except under Hebrew +and Christian auspices.] who governs and keeps in their places the other +spheres. In this are fixed those stars which ever roll in an unchanging +course. Beneath this are seven spheres which have a retrograde movement, +opposite to that of the heavens. One of these is the domain of the star +which on earth they call Saturn. Next is the luminary which bears the +name of Jupiter, of prosperous and healthful omen to the human race; +then, the star of fiery red which you call Mars, and which men regard +with terror. Beneath, the Sun holds nearly the midway space, [Footnote: +The middle, as the fifth of the nine spheres, enclosed by four; and +enclosing four.] leader, prince, and ruler of the other lights, the mind +and regulating power of the universe, so vast as to illuminate and flood +all things with his light. Him, as his companions, Venus and Mercury +follow on their different courses; and in a sphere still lower the moon +revolves, lighted by the rays of the sun. Beneath this there is nothing +that is not mortal and perishable, except the souls bestowed upon the +human race by the gift of the gods. Above the moon all things are +eternal. The earth, which is the central and ninth sphere, has no +motion, and is the lowest [Footnote: The lowest because central, and +therefore farthest from the outermost or celestial sphere.] of all, and +all heavy bodies gravitate spontaneously toward it." + +5. When I had recovered from my amazement at these things I asked, "What +is this sound so strong and so sweet that fills my ears?" "This," he +replied, "is the melody which, at intervals unequal, yet differing in +exact proportions, is made by the impulse and motion of the spheres +themselves, which, softening shriller by deeper tones, produce a +diversity of regular harmonies. Nor can such vast movements be urged on +in silence; and by the order of nature the shriller notes sound from one +extreme of the universe, the deeper from the other. Thus yonder supreme +celestial sphere with its clustered stars, as it revolves more rapidly, +moves with a shrill and quick strain; this lower sphere of the moon +sends forth deeper notes; while the earth, the ninth sphere, remaining +motionless, [Footnote: Therefore without sound. ] always stands fixed in +the lowest place, occupying the centre of the universe. But these eight +revolutions, of which two, those of Mercury and Venus, are in unison, +make seven distinct tones, with measured intervals between, and almost +all things are arranged in sevens. [Footnote: Latin, _qui numerus_ (that +is, _septem_) _rerum omnium fere nodus est_. Literally, "which number is +the knot of almost everything." The more intelligible form in which I +have rendered these words seems to me to convey their true meaning, and +my belief to that effect is confirmed by reading what several +commentators say about the passage.] Skilled men, copying this harmony +with strings and voice, have opened for themselves a way back to this +place, as have others who with excelling genius have cultivated divine +sciences in human life. But the ears of men are deafened by being filled +with this melody; nor is there in you mortals a duller sense than that +of hearing. As where the Nile at the Falls of Catadupa pours down from +the loftiest mountains, the people who live hard by lack the sense of +hearing because of the loudness of the cataract, so this harmony of the +whole universe in its intensely rapid movement is so loud that men's +ears cannot take it in, even as you cannot look directly at the sun, and +the keenness and visual power of the eye are overwhelmed by its rays." +While I marvelled at these things, I ever and anon cast my eyes again +upon the earth. + +6. Then Africanus said: "I perceive that you are now fixing your eyes on +the abode and home of men, and if it seems to you small, as it really +is, then look always at these heavenly things, and despise those +earthly. For what reputation from the speech of men, or what fame worth +seeking, can you obtain? You see that the inhabited places of the earth +are scattered and of small extent, that in the spots [Footnote: Latin, +_maculis_,--a figure so bold in Cicero's time as to need an apology for +its use, but now employed with no consciousness of its being otherwise +than strictly literal.]--so to speak--where men dwell there are vast +solitary tracts interposed, and that those who live on the earth are not +only so separated that no communication can pass from place to place, +but stand, in part at an oblique angle, in part at a right angle with +you, in part even in an opposite direction; [Footnote: It hardly needs +to be said, that the reference here is to the convex surface of the +earth, on which those remote from one another may hold all the various +angles to each other that are borne by the spokes of a wheel.] and from +these you certainly can anticipate no fame. + +"You perceive also that this same earth is girded and surrounded by +belts, two of which--the farthest from each other, and each resting at +one extremity on the very pole of the heavens--you see entirely frost- +bound; while the middle and largest of them burns under the sun's +intensest heat. Two of them are habitable, of which the southern, whose +inhabitants are your antipodes, bears no relation to your people; and +see how small a part they occupy in this other northern zone, in which +you dwell. For all of the earth with which you have any concern--narrow +at the north and south, broader in its central portion--is a mere little +island, surrounded by that sea which you on earth call the Atlantic, the +Great Sea, the Ocean, while yet, with such a name, you see how small it +is. To speak only of these cultivated and well-known regions, could your +name even cross this Caucasus which you have in view, or swim beyond +that Ganges? Who, in what other lands may lie in the extreme east or +west, or under northern or southern skies, will ever hear your name? All +these cut off, you surely see within what narrow bounds your fame can +seek to spread. Then, too, as regards the very persons who tell of your +renown, how long will they speak of it? + +7. "But even if successive generations should desire to transmit the +praise of every one of us from father to son in unbroken succession, yet +because of devastations by flood and fire, which will of necessity take +place at a determined time, we must fail of attaining not only eternal +fame, but even that of very long duration. Now of what concern is it +that those who shall be born hereafter should speak of you, when you +were spoken of by none who were born before you, who were not fewer, and +certainly were better men?--especially, too, when among those who might +hear our names there is not one that can retain the memories of a single +year. Men, indeed, ordinarily measure the year only by the return of the +sun, that is, one star, to its place; but when all the stars, after long +intervals, shall resume their original places in the heavens, then that +completed revolution may be truly called a year. As of old the sun +seemed to be eclipsed and blotted out when the soul of Romulus entered +these temples, so when the sun shall be again eclipsed in the same part +of his course, and at the same period of the year and day, with all the +constellations and stars recalled to the point from which they started +on their revolutions, then count the year as brought to a close. +[Footnote: The Stoics maintained that the visible universe would last +through such a cycle as is here described, which in their conjectural +astronomy comprehended many thousands of years, and then would be +consumed by fire, or somehow be reduced to chaos, and a new universe +take its place.] But be assured that the twentieth part of this year has +not yet come round. + +"Therefore, should you renounce the hope of returning to this place in +which are all things that great and excellent men can desire, of what +worth is that human glory which can scarcely extend to a small part of a +single year? If, then, you shall determine to look high up, and to +behold continuously this dwelling and eternal home, you will neither +give yourself to the flattery of the people, nor place your hope of +well-being on rewards that man can bestow. Let Virtue herself by her own +charms draw you to true honor. What others may say of you, regard as +their concern, not yours. They will doubtless talk about you, but all +that they say is confined within the narrow limits of the regions which +you now see; nor did such speech as to any one ever last on into +eternity,--it is buried with those who die, and lost in oblivion for +those who may come afterward." + +8. When he had spoken thus, I said, "O Africanus, if indeed for those +who have deserved well of their country there is, as it were, an open +road by which they may enter heaven, though from boyhood treading in my +father's steps and yours, I have done no discredit to your fame, I yet +shall now strive to that end with a more watchful diligence." And he +replied: "Strive [Footnote: Or, you will strive indeed.] indeed, and +bear this in mind, that it is not you that are mortal, but your body +only. Nor is it you whom this outward form makes manifest; but every +man's mind is he,--not the bodily shape which can be pointed at by the +finger. Know also that you are a god, if he indeed is a god who lives, +who perceives, who remembers, who foresees, who governs and restrains +and moves the body over which he is made ruler even as the Supreme God +holds the universe under his sway; and in truth as the eternal God +himself moves the universe which is mortal in every part, so does the +everlasting soul move the corruptible body. + +"That, indeed, which is in perpetual movement is eternal; but that +which, while imparting motion to some other substance, derives its own +movement from some other source, must of necessity cease to live when it +ceases to move. Then that alone which is the cause of its own motion, +because it is never deserted by itself, never has its movement +suspended. But for other substances that are moved this is the source, +the first cause, [Footnote: Latin, _principium_.] of movement. But the +first cause has no origin; for all things spring from the first cause: +itself, from nothing. That indeed would not be a first cause which +derived its beginning from anything else; and if it has no beginning, it +never ceases to be. For the first cause, if extinct, will neither itself +be born again from aught else, nor will it create aught else from +itself, if indeed all things must of necessity originate from the first +cause. Thus it is that the first cause of motion is derived from that +which is in its nature self-moving; but this can neither be born nor +die. Were it to die, the whole heaven would of necessity collapse, and +all nature would stand still, nor could it find any force which could be +set in movement anew from a primitive impulse. [Footnote: From a first +cause; the first cause, by hypothesis, having ceased to be.] + +9. "Since, then, that which is the source of its own movement is +manifestly eternal, who is there that can deny that this nature has been +given to the soul? For whatever is moved by external impulse is +soulless; [Footnote: Latin, _inanimum._] but whatever has a soul +[Footnote: Latin, _animal._ My renderings of _inanimum_ and _animal_ +here, if not justified by any parallel instances (and I know not whether +they are), are required by the obvious meaning of the sentence.] is +stirred to action by movement inward and its own; for this is the +peculiar nature and virtue of the soul. Moreover, if it is this alone of +all things that is the source of its own movement, it certainly did not +begin to be, and is eternal. "This soul I bid you to exercise in the +best pursuits, and the best are your cares for your country's safety, by +which if your soul be kept in constant action and exercise, it will have +the more rapid flight to this its abode and home. This end it will +attain the more readily, if, while it shall be shut up in the body, it +shall peer forth, and, contemplating those things that are beyond, +abstract itself as far as possible from the body. For the souls of those +who have surrendered themselves to the pleasures of the body, have +yielded themselves to their service, and, obeying them under the impulse +of sensual lusts, have transgressed the laws of gods and men, when they +pass out of their bodies are tossed to and fro around the earth, nor +return to this place till they have wandered in banishment for many +ages." + +He departed; I awoke from sleep. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream +by Marcus Tullius Ciceronis + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DE AMICITIA, SCIPIO'S DREAM *** + +This file should be named 8amsc10.txt or 8amsc10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8amsc11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8amsc10a.txt + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Charles Franks +& the Distributed Proofreaders Team + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/8amsc10.zip b/old/8amsc10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2daf36f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8amsc10.zip |