24 Cicero, De Amicitia 82–85
Most people want friends who are better than themselves, but the best thing is to be a good person yourself and then your friendships will be stable and will allow both friends to follow the path of virtue.
| 1 | Sed plērīque perversē, nē dīcam inpudenter, habēre tālem amīcum volunt, quālēs ipsī esse nōn possunt, quaeque ipsī nōn tribuunt amīcīs, haec ab iīs dēsīderant. |
| 2 | Pār est autem prīmum ipsum esse virum bonum, tum alterum similem suī quaerere. |
| 3 | In tālibus ea, quam iam dūdum tractāmus, stabilitās amīcitiae cōnfirmārī potest, |
| 4 | cum hominēs benevolentiā coniūnctī prīmum cupiditātibus iīs, quibus cēterī serviunt, imperābunt, deinde aequitāte iūstitiāque gaudēbunt, omniaque alter prō alterō suscipiet, |
| 5 | neque quicquam umquam nisi honestum et rēctum alter ab alterō postulābit, neque sōlum colent inter sē ac dīligent, sed etiam verēbuntur. |
| 6 | Nam maxumum ōrnāmentum amīcitiae tollit, quī ex eā tollit verēcundiam. |
| 7 | [83] Itaque in iīs perniciōsus est error, quī exīstumant lubīdinum peccātōrumque omnium patēre in amīcitiā licentiam; |
| 8 | virtūtum amīcitia adiūtrīx ā nātūrā data est, nōn vitiōrum comes, ut, quoniam sōlitāria nōn posset virtūs ad ea, quae summa sunt, pervenīre, coniūncta et cōnsociāta cum alterā pervenīret. |
| 1 | nē dīcam: you can consider this parenthetical statement either a negative hortatory subjunctive or a prohibition; the first person singular in either case is rare
quaeque: quae + –que; look for the antecedent, as so often in Latin, after the relative clause. |
| 2 | par: the adj. not the noun; here it has a somewhat extended meaning of “fair”.
ipsum: one expects se as the acc. subject, but you can assume it with ipsum. |
| 3 | tālibus: refers to the good men Laelius has been describing.
ea: remember that is, ea, id are in reality mild demonstrative adjectives; what does ea modify here? (note also iīs below in line 4). |
| 4 | cum: the long string of future verbs in this cum clause makes it virtually equivalent to a conditional statement.
cupiditātibus: has to be understood as a dative, why? (same for quibus). 6 aequitāte iūstitiāque: with gaudēbunt, “rejoice in” omnia: here the willingness to undertake “everything” for a friend does not have a negative association, since both friends are in command of desires and are just. |
| 5 | quicquam: remember that this indefinite pronoun is used in negative statements.
8 inter sē: Latin has no reciprocal pronoun (“each other”) and so uses various combinations to represent the idea; here inter sē is virtually the object of the three verbs, colent…dīligent…verēbuntur. verēbuntur: this verb implies a feeling of reverence, or religious awe, and it is the moral quality (see verēcundiam in line 6) of those who pay attention to religious matters. |
| 6 | verēcundiam: “reverence, respect” verēcundia is that which keeps you from doing something that would cause shame.
People who think that friendships can lead a person into vice are wrong; true friendship is the best helper (adiūtrix) to virtue because virtue cannot reach its highest goals alone… |
| 7 | licentiam: accusative subject of patēre; placed last for emphasis. |
| 8 | virtūtum amīcitia adiūtrīx: amīcitia is embedded within virtūtum…adiūtrīx; i.e. amīcitia, virtūtum adiūtrīx.
12 posset: quoniam normally takes the indicative, but here it has been “attracted” into the subjunctive due to its inclusion in a purpose clause. |
Interrogata
- Do you want things from your friends that you yourself cannot give them?
- Are any of your friends “comrades in vice” rather than “helpers to virtue”?
