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[54]
And yet, such was the haughtiness and perversity
of the man that I wonder if he could have had
anyone as a friend. Now just as the character of
Tarquin could not procure him true friends, so, with
many, their power, if it be very great, is a bar to
faithful friendships. For not only is Fortune blind
herself, but as a rule she even blinds those whom
she has embraced; and thus they are generally
transported beyond themselves by wanton pride
and obstinacy—nor can anything in the world be
more insufferable than one of Fortune's fools.
Indeed we may observe that men, formerly affable
in their manners, become changed by military rank,
by power, and by prosperity, spurn their old-time
friends and revel in the new.
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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