1But the society and union of men will be best preserved if the most kindness is conferred on each in proportion as he is most closely bound to us. 1But it seems we must go further back to see what natural principles there are of human fellowship and society; 1for the first is that which is seen in the society of the whole human race. 1Its bond is reason and speech, which by teaching, learning, communicating, debating and judging unite men with one another and join them in a kind of natural society; 1and in nothing are we further removed from the nature of wild beasts, in which we often say there is courage, as in horses and in lions, but we do not say there is justice, fairness or goodness; 1for they have no share in reason and speech.
51And this indeed is the society that extends most widely, of men with one another, of all with all; 51in it the common possession of all the things which nature has produced for the common use of men must be preserved, so that what has been assigned by statutes and civil law should be held as the laws themselves have laid down, and the rest should be treated as the Greek proverb has it: 'Among friends all things are common.' 51Now the things common to all men seem to be those of the kind which Ennius set out in a single instance that can be applied to very many: 'The man who kindly shows the way to one who wanders does as if he lit a light from his own light.
51It shines no less for him when he has lit the other's.' 51By one instance he teaches well enough that whatever can be lent without loss should be given even to a stranger; 52from this come those common rules: not to keep anyone from running water, to let someone take fire from your fire if he wishes, to give honest counsel to one who is deliberating; things which are useful to those who receive them and no burden to the giver. 52Therefore we should both make use of these and always contribute something to the common good. 52But since the resources of individuals are small, while the number of those who need them is endless, ordinary liberality must be referred to that limit of Ennius, 'It shines no less for him', so that we may have the means with which to be liberal to our own.