Generally speaking, there is but one way of securing and providing oneself against faults and inconveniences of this sort--not to be too hasty in bestowing our affection, and not to bestow it at all on unworthy objects.
Offering foundational advice on forming lasting friendships, this passage emphasizes the importance of careful selection and avoiding hasty affection for unworthy individuals.
Share
More from Cicero
But the trouble about this matter is that it is in the greatest souls and in the most brilliant geniuses that we usually find ambitions for civil and military authority, for power, and for glory, springing up; and therefore we must be the…
In my opinion, at least, we should always strive to secure a peace that shall not admit of guile.
For we contend, for example, with a fellow-citizen in one way, if he is a personal enemy, in another, if he is a rival: with the rival it is a struggle for office and position, with the enemy for life and honour.
For we may well be guided by those fundamental principles of justice which I laid down at the outset: first, that no harm be done to anyone; second, that the common interests be conserved.
Other voices in this conversation
