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[45]
I say this because certain
men who, I am informed, are considered sages in
Greece, have approved certain views, which, in my
opinion, are astonishing (but there is nothing that
those men will not pursue with their subtleties).
Some of these men teach that too much intimacy
in friendships should be avoided, lest it be necessary
for one man to be full of anxiety for many; that
each one of us has business of his own, enough and
to spare; that it is annoying to be too much involved
in the affairs of other people; that it is best to
hold the reins of friendship as loosely as possible,
so that we may either draw them up or slacken
them at will; for, they say, an essential of a
happy life is freedom from care, and this the soul
cannot enjoy if one man is, as it were, in travail
for many.
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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