25 Cicero, De Amicitia 82–85 (continued)
Quae sī quōs inter societās aut est aut fuit aut futūra est, eōrum est habendus
ad summum nātūrae bonum optumus beātissimusque comitātus. [84] Haec est, inquam, societās, in quā omnia īnsunt, quae putant hominēs expetenda, honestās, glōria, tranquillitās animī atque iūcunditās, ut et, cum haec adsint, beāta vīta sit et sine hīs esse nōn possit. Quod cum optumum maxumumque sit, sī id volumus adipīscī, virtūtī opera danda est, sine quā nec amīcitiam neque ūllam rem expetendam cōnsequī possumus; eā vērō neglēctā quī sē amīcōs habēre arbitrantur, tum sē dēnique errāsse sentiunt, cum eōs gravis aliquis cāsus experīrī cōgit. [85] Quōcircā (dīcendum est enim saepius), cum iūdicārīs, dīligere oportet, nōn, cum dīlēxerīs, iūdicāre.
Interrogata
- How does Laelius’ list of the best things in life (honestās, glōria, tranquillitās animī atque iūcunditās) square with your own list? What would you add or subtract?
- Have you ever had, or do you think you will ever have, the kind of friendship Laelius describes here?Vocabularia, Res Grammaticae, et Alia
Commentariolum
This ideal companionship (comitātus, societās) leads to the best things in life. Virtue, therefore, is crucial, since virtue leads to good friendships and all the things that make a happy life. So, choose your friends carefully.
15 quae: this connecting relative adjective goes inside the sī clause and modifies societās (which refers to the kind of ideal friendship described in the preceding section); i.e., sī (ali)quae quōs inter societās.
quōs: object of inter; since it follows sī, what must it be a shortened form of?
eōrum: refers to the quōs and shows possession with comitātus (line 16).
habendus: “must be considered.”
16 ad: the idea of companionship in comitātus suggests the notion of a journey toward the good.
18 animī: with both tranquillitās and iūcunditās; signaled by the atque.
19 quod: by now you should be getting used to connecting relatives that stand just in front of the conjunction that begins their clause.
21 eā: this ablative refers back to virtūtī (line 20).
22 erāsse: this is another syncopated form: erā(vi)sse.
eōs: refers back to amīcōs and serves as the acc. object in indirect statement here; the subject is an understood sē supplied from the earlier clause (an example of the “indirect reflexive”).
22-23 Cicero here translates a maxim found in Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher and student of Aristotle, who wrote a (now lost) treatise On Friendship: περὶ φιλίας: τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους οὐ φιλοῦντα δεῖ κρίνειν, ἀλλὰ κρίναντα φιλεῖν (or, peri philas: tous allotrious ou philounta dei krinein). A different translation by Seneca can be found in the next reading.
23 iūdicārīs: syncopated future perfect indicative; note a passive.
24 iūdicāre: understand oportet with this infinitive as well.
