62 /-26 to /-27
periods of antiquity, you could hardly find three pairs of [true] friends,
starting with Theseus and finishing up with Orestes. But in just one
household-and a small one at that-Epicurus assembled such large
congregations of friends which were bound together by a shared feeling
of the deepest love. And even now the Epicureans do the same thing.
But let us get back to the point; we do not need to speak of individuals.
- I see that the question of friendship has been dealt with in three
ways by our school. Some say that our friends' pleasures are not in
themselves as worthy of pursuit as are our own (a doctrine which some
think undermines the stability of a friendship), but nevertheless they do
defend this claim and easily, as I think, get themselves out of their
difficulties. Just as we said about the virtues somewhat earlier, so for
friendship: they deny that it can be separated from pleasure. For since
a solitary life without friends is full of dangerous traps and fear, reason
herself advises us to get some friends; and when we do so our mind is
reassured and becomes indissolubly linked to the expectation that plea-
sures will thereby be acquired. 67. And just as hatred, envy, and contempt
are inimical to pleasures, so friendships are not only the most trustworthy
supports for our pleasures, but they also produce them, as much for our
friends as for ourselves. We enjoy friends not only while they are present
with us, but we are also elated by our expectations for the immediate
and for the more distant future. Because we cannot possibly secure a
stable and long-lasting pleasantness in our life without friendship, and
cannot maintain friendship itself unless we cherish our friends just as
much as we do ourselves, it follows both that this kind of thing does
occur in friendship and that friendship is linked with pleasure. For we
rejoice at our friends' joys just as much as at our own, and grieve just
as much for their anguish. 68. That is why a wise man will have the
same feelings for his friend as for himself and will undertake the same
labours for the sake of a friend's pleasure as he would undertake for the
sake of his own.
What we said about the way the virtues are always found to be essen-
tially connected to pleasures must also be said about friendship. For
Epicurus made a splendid declaration, in almost exactly these words:^27
One and the same doctrine has reassured our minds that there is no
eternal or even long-lasting bad thing to fear and has also seen that
in this present span of life the most reliable source of protection lies
in friendship.
69. There are, however, some Epicureans who are more timid in the
face of your abusive criticisms, but are nevertheless pretty sharp-witted; - Principal Doctrine XXVIII.