Meno,Plato, 71 E. the Thessalian, who felt that he had had a good training in debating, and, to quote Empedocles’ familiar expression, was Haunting the lofty heights of wisdom, From a longer fragment; cf. Diels, , i. p. 225. was asked by Socrates what virtue is; and when he replied impulsively and promptly that there is a virtue appropriate to a child and to an old man, to a grown man and to a woman, to a public official and to a private citizen, to a master and to a servant, Socrates exclaimed, A fine answer! for when asked for one virtue you have stirred up a whole swarm of virtues, Cf. 441 B. inferring, not badly, that it was because the man knew not a single virtue that he was naming so many. And might not we also be subject to ridicule because we, who are not yet in secure possession of one friendship, are afraid that we may unwittingly become involved in a multitude of friendships? We hardly differ at all from a man who, being maimed or blind, is afraid that he may become a Briareus of the hundred hands or an Argus all-seeing. And yet we commend above measure the youth in Menander’s play The . Kock, iii., Menander, No. 554. See also Plutarch, , 479 C, where four lines of the play are quoted, and Allinson, (in the L.C.L.), p. 493. who says that any man counts it a marvellous good thing If he but have the shadow of a friend.

One thing which stands out among many others, as particularly antagonistic to our acquisition of friendship, is the craving for numerous friends, which is like that of licentious women, Cf. Lucian, , 37. for because of our frequent intimacies with many different persons we cannot keep our hold on our earlier associates, who are neglected and drift away. A better comparison, perhaps, is the nursling of Hypsipyle, who seated himself in the meadow, and One after another caught up Handfuls of flowers with joyful heart, But with childhood’s yearning unsated.Presumably from the of Euripides, cf. Nauck, Euripides, No. 754. Cf. also Plutarch, , 661 F. So it is with all of us: because anything new attracts us but soon palls on us, it is always the recent and freshly blooming friend that allures us and makes us change our minds, even while we are busy with many beginnings of friendship and intimacy at the same time, which go but little further, since, in our longing for the person we pursue, we pass over the one already within our grasp.

In the first place, then, let us begin at the hearthstone, as the saying is, with the story of men’s lives which history Plutarch is considering Greek history only. has left us regarding steadfast friends, and let us take as witness and counsellor in our discussion the long and distant ages in which are mentioned, as paired in the bond of friendship, Theseus and Peirithoüs, Achilles and Patroclus, Orestes and Pylades, Phintias and Damon, Epameinondas and Pelopidas. For friendship is a creature that seeks a companion; it is not like cattle and crows that flock and herd together, and to look upon one’s friend as another self and to call him brother as though to suggest th’other, is nothing but a way of using duality as a measure of friendship. It is impossible to acquire either many slaves or many friends with little coin. What then is the coin of friendship ? It is goodwill and graciousness combined with virtue, than which nature has nothing more rare. It follows, then, that a strong mutual friendship with many persons is impossible, but, just as rivers whose waters are divided among many branches and channels flow weak and thin, so affection, naturally strong in a soul, if portioned out among many persons becomes utterly enfeebled. This is the reason why, in the case of animals, love for their young is more strongly implanted by nature in those that give birth to but one at a time; and Homer’s , ix. 482; , xvi. 19. name for a beloved son is the only one, child of our eld, that is to say, born to parents who neither have nor can ever have another child.

We do not maintain that our friend should be the only one, but along with others let there be some child of our eld and late-begotten, as it were, who has consumed with us in the course of time the proverbial bushel of salt, Cf., 482 B; Cicero, , 19 (67); Aristotle, viii. 3. not as is the fashion nowadays, by which many get the name of friend by drinking a single glass together, or by playing ball or gambling together, or by spending a night under the same roof, and so pick up a friendship from inn, gymnasium, or market-place.

We ought therefore not to accept readily chance acquaintances, or attach ourselves to them, nor ought we to make friends of those who seek after us, but rather we should seek after those who are worthy of friendship. For one should by no means take what can be easily taken. In fact we step over or thrust aside bramble and brier, which seize hold upon us, and make our way onward to the olive and the vine.Cf., 709 E. Thus it is always an excellent thing not to make an intimate acquaintance of the man who is ready with his embraces, but rather, of our own motion, to embrace those of whom we approve as worthy of our attention and useful to us.