Amic. 8.1LAELIUS.LAELIUS. Amic. 8.1Vim hoc quidem est afferre;This is indeed using force; Amic. 8.1quid enim rēfert quā mē ratiōne cōgātis?for what does it matter by what means you compel me? Amic. 8.1Cōgitis certē.Compel me you certainly do. Amic. 8.1Studiīs enim generōrum, praesertim in rē bonā, cum difficile est tum nē aequum quidem obsistere.For to resist the wishes of one's sons-in-law, especially in a good cause, is not only difficult but not even fair. Amic. 8.1Saepissimē igitur mihi dē amīcitiā cōgitantī maximē illud cōnsīderandum vidērī solet, utrum propter imbēcillitātem atque inopiam dēsīderāta sit amīcitia, ut dandīs recipiendīsque meritīs, quod quisque minus per sē ipse posset, id acciperet ab aliō vicissimque redderet, an esset hoc quidem proprium amīcitiae, sed antīquior et pulchrior et magis ā nātūrā ipsā profecta alia causa.Well then, as I very often reflect on friendship, the question that usually seems to me most worth considering is this: whether friendship has been sought because of weakness and want, so that by giving and receiving favours each might obtain from another, and repay in turn, what he was less able to do by himself, or whether, though this is indeed a feature of friendship, there is another cause, older, more beautiful and springing more from nature herself.
Amic. 8.1Amor enim, ex quō amīcitia nōmināta est, prīnceps est ad benevolentiam coniungendam.For love, from which friendship takes its name, is the prime mover in uniting men in goodwill. Amic. 8.1Nam ūtilitātēs quidem etiam ab eīs percipiuntur saepe, quī simulātiōne amīcitiae coluntur et observantur temporis causā;For advantages are often gained even from those who are courted and attended with a pretence of friendship for the sake of the occasion; Amic. 8.1in amīcitiā autem nihil fictum, nihil simulātum est et, quidquid est, id est vērum et voluntārium.but in friendship there is nothing feigned, nothing pretended, and whatever there is, is genuine and freely given. Amic. 8.27Quāpropter ā nātūrā mihi vidētur potius quam indigentiā orta amīcitia, applicātiōne magis animī cum quōdam sēnsū amandī, quam cōgitātiōne quantum illa rēs ūtilitātis esset habitūra.Therefore friendship seems to me to have sprung from nature rather than from need, from an inclination of the mind together with a certain feeling of love rather than from a calculation of how much profit the thing would bring. Amic. 8.27Quod quidem quāle sit, etiam in bēstiīs quibusdam animadvertī potest, quae ex sē nātōs ita amant ad quoddam tempus et ab eīs ita amantur, ut facile eārum sēnsus appāreat.What this is like can be observed even in certain animals, which so love their offspring for a certain time, and are so loved by them, that their feeling is plainly apparent.
Amic. 8.27Quod in homine multō est ēvidentius, prīmum ex eā cāritāte quae est inter nātōs et parentīs, quae dirimī nisi dētestābilī scelere nōn potest, deinde cum similis sēnsus exstitit amōris, sī aliquem nactī sumus, cuius cum mōribus et nātūrā congruāmus, quod in eō quasi lūmen aliquod probitātis et virtūtis perspicere videāmur.This is far more evident in man, first from that affection which exists between children and parents, which cannot be broken except by an accursed crime, and next when a similar feeling of love has arisen, if we have found someone with whose character and nature we are in harmony, because we seem to see in him a kind of light, as it were, of uprightness and virtue. Amic. 8.28Nihil est enim virtūte amābilius, nihil quod magis alliciat ad dīligendum, quippe cum propter virtūtem et probitātem etiam eōs, quōs numquam vīdimus, quōdam modō dīligāmus.For nothing is more lovable than virtue, nothing that draws us more to affection, since for their virtue and uprightness we feel affection in some way even for those we have never seen. Amic. 8.28Quis est quī C. Fabricī, M'. Curī nōn cum cāritāte aliquā benevolā memoriam ūsurpet, quōs numquam vīderit?Who is there who does not recall the memory of Gaius Fabricius and Manius Curius with a certain kindly affection, though he never saw them?
Amic. 8.28Quis autem est quī Tarquinium Superbum, quī Sp. Cassium, Sp. Maelium nōn ōderit?And who is there who does not hate Tarquinius Superbus, Spurius Cassius and Spurius Maelius? Amic. 8.28Cum duōbus ducibus dē imperiō in Ītaliā est dēcertātum, Pyrrhō et Hannibale;Against two generals there was a fight to the finish for empire in Italy, Pyrrhus and Hannibal; Amic. 8.28ab alterō propter probitātem eius nōn nimis aliēnōs animōs habēmus;towards the one, because of his uprightness, we do not feel too unfriendly; Amic. 8.28alterum propter crūdēlitātem semper haec cīvitās ōderit.the other, because of his cruelty, this state will always hate.