This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
View text chunked by:
- bekker page : bekker line
- book : chapter : section
in
the event of the parties themselves changing, for if no longer pleasant or useful to each
other, they cease to love each other. And utility is not a permanent quality; it differs
at different times. Hence when the motive of the friendship has passed away, the
friendship itself is dissolved, having existed merely as a means to that end. 3.
[4]
Friendships of Utility seem to occur most frequently between the old, as in old age men
do not pursue pleasure but profit; and between those persons in the prime of life and
young people whose object in life is gain. Friends of this kind do not indeed frequent
each other's company much, for in some cases they are not even pleasing to each other, and
therefore have no use for friendly intercourse unless they are mutually profitable; since
their pleasure in each other goes no further than their expectations of advantage.
With these friendships are classed family ties of hospitality with foreigners. 3.
[5]
With the young on the other hand the motive of friendship appears to be pleasure, since
the young guide their lives by emotion, and for the most part pursue what is pleasant to
themselves, and the object of the moment. And the things that please them change as their
age alters; hence they both form friendships and drop them quickly, since their affections
alter with what gives them pleasure,