[27]
Wherefore it seems to
me that friendship springs rather from nature than
from need, and from an inclination of the soul joined
with a feeling of love rather than from calculation
of how much profit the friendship is likely to afford.
What this feeling is may be perceived even in the
case of certain animals, which, up to a certain time,
so love their offspring and are so loved by them,
that their impulses are easily seen. But this is
much more evident in man; first, from the affection
existing between children and parents, which cannot
be destroyed except by some execrable crime, and
again from that kindred impulse of love, which
arises when once we have met someone whose
habits and character are congenial with our own;
because in him we seem to behold, as it were, a
sort of lamp of uprightness and virtue.
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