Marcus Tullius Cicero · Complete work
Chapter 10
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SECTION 33SCAEVOLA. Recte tu quidem: quam ob rem audiamus.LAELIUS. Audite vero, optimi viri, ea quae saepissime inter me et Scipionem de amicitia disserebantur. quamquam ille quidem nihil difficilius esse dicebat quam amicitiam usque ad extremum vitae diem permanere: nam vel ut non idem expediret incidere saepe, vel ut de re publica non idem sentiretur; mutari etiam mores hominum saepe dicebat, alias adversis rebus, alias aetate ingravescente. atque earum rerum exemplum ex similitudine capiebat ineuntis aetatis, quod summi puerorum amores saepe una cum praetexta toga deponerentur;
SECTION 34sin autem ad adulescentiam perduxissent, dirimi tamen interdum contentione vel uxoriae condicionis vel commodi alicuius, quod idem adipisci uterque non posset. quod si qui longius in amicitia provecti essent, tamen saepe labefactari, si in honoris contentionem incidissent; pestem enim nullam maiorem esse amicitiis quam in plerisque pecuniae cupiditatem, in optimis quibusque honoris certamen et gloriae, ex quo inimicitias maximas saepe inter amicissimos exstitisse.
SECTION 35magna etiam discidia et plerumque iusta nasci, cum aliquid ab amicis quod rectum non esset postularetur, ut aut libidinis ministri aut adiutores essent ad iniuriam, quod qui recusarent, quamvis honeste id facerent, ius tamen amicitiae deserere arguerentur ab eis, quibus obsequi nollent; illos autem, qui quidvis ab amico auderent postulare, postulatione ipsa profiteri omnia se amici causa esse facturos. eorum querella inveterata non modo familiaritates exstingui solere, sed odia etiam gigni sempiterna. haec ita multa quasi fata impendere amicitiis, ut omnia subterfugere non modo sapientiae, sed etiam felicitatis diceret sibi videri.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from all 27 Latin chapters and 104 sections for fidelity, philosophical precision, rhetorical clarity, structure, and cadence.
SECTION 33SCAEVOLA. Quite right. Let us therefore listen.LAELIUS. Then listen, excellent friends, to the things most frequently discussed between Scipio and me concerning friendship. He used to say, however, that nothing was more difficult than for a friendship to endure until the final day of life: for it often happened either that the same course ceased to be advantageous to both, or that they no longer held the same views about the commonwealth. He also said that men’s characters often changed, sometimes through adversity, sometimes under the increasing burden of age. He drew an example of these changes from the likeness of early youth, because the strongest affections among boys were often laid aside together with the bordered toga;
SECTION 34and even if those affections continued into young manhood, they were nevertheless sometimes severed by rivalry over a marriage match or over some advantage that both could not obtain. And if some men advanced still farther in friendship, their bond was nevertheless often shaken if they became rivals for public office. For no plague, he said, was more destructive to friendships than greed for money in most men, and, in the very best, competition for office and glory—a source from which the bitterest enmities had often arisen between the closest of friends.
SECTION 35Serious and generally just divisions also arose when something dishonorable was demanded of friends—for example, that they become agents of another’s lust or accomplices in wrongdoing. Those who refused, however honorably they acted, were nevertheless accused of abandoning the obligations of friendship by the men whose wishes they would not obey; while those who dared to demand anything whatever from a friend professed by the very demand that they themselves would do everything for a friend’s sake. Their long-standing grievance commonly destroyed not only intimacy but also engendered everlasting hatred. So many dangers, he said, hung over friendships like so many decrees of fate that to escape them all seemed to him a matter not merely of wisdom but also of good fortune.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 27 Latin chapters and 104 sections.
SECTION 33SCAEVOLA. You are quite right. So let us listen.
LAELIUS. Then listen, my excellent friends, to the things that Scipio and I very often discussed about friendship. He used to say that nothing was more difficult than for a friendship to endure until the final day of life. For it often happened either that the same course was no longer advantageous to both friends, or that they did not hold the same political opinions. He also said that people’s characters often changed, sometimes because of adversity, sometimes because of the increasing burdens of age. He drew an illustration of these changes from the corresponding experience of early life: the most intense affections among boys were often put aside together with the toga praetexta.
SECTION 34But even if those friendships continued into young adulthood, they were nevertheless sometimes broken apart by rivalry over a prospective marriage or over some other advantage that both friends could not obtain. And even if some people had advanced further in friendship, their friendships were often shaken if they became rivals for public office. For he said that no plague was more destructive to friendships than greed for money among most people and competition for office and glory among the very best, and that from this the bitterest enmities had often arisen between the closest friends.
SECTION 35He also said that serious and generally justified divisions arose when something morally wrong was demanded of friends—for example, that they become agents of another’s lust or accomplices in an injustice. Those who refused, although they acted honorably in doing so, were nevertheless accused of abandoning the obligations of friendship by the people whose wishes they would not obey. But those who dared to demand anything at all from a friend were, by that very demand, declaring that they themselves would do anything for the sake of a friend. Their long-standing resentment tended not only to destroy close relationships but also to produce everlasting hatred. So many of these dangers, he said, hung over friendships like so many decrees of fate that to escape them all seemed to him a matter not only of wisdom but also of good fortune.