of friendship has a lower place in the modern than in the
ancient world, partly because a higher place is assigned by us to love
and marriage. The very meaning of the word has become slighter and more
superficial; it seems almost to be borrowed from the ancients, and has
nearly disappeared in modern treatises on Moral Philosophy. The received
examples of friendship are to be found chiefly among the Greeks and
Romans. Hence the casuistical or other questions which arise out of the
relations of friends have not often been considered seriously in modern
times. Many of them will be found to be the same which are discussed
in the Lysis. We may ask with Socrates, 1) whether friendship is 'of
similars or dissimilars,' or of both; 2) whether such a tie exists
between the good only and for the sake of the good; or 3) whether there
may not be some peculiar attraction, which draws together 'the neither
good nor evil' for the sake of the good and because of the evil; 4)
whether friendship is always mutual,--may there not be a one-sided and
unrequited friendship? This question, which, like many others, is only
one of a laxer or stricter use of words, seems to have greatly exercised
the minds both of Aristotle and Plato.

5) Can we expect friendship to be permanent, or must we acknowledge
with Cicero, 'Nihil difficilius quam amicitiam usque ad extremum vitae
permanere'? Is not friendship, even more than love, liable to be swayed
by the caprices of fancy? The person who pleased us most at first sight
or upon a slight acquaintance, when we have seen him again, and under
different circumstances, may make a much less favourable impression
on our minds. Young people swear 'eternal friendships,' but at these
innocent perjuries their elders laugh. No one forms a friendship with
the intention of renouncing it; yet in the course of a varied life it
is practically certain that many changes will occur of feeling, opinion,
locality, occupation, fortune, which will divide us from some persons
and unite us to others. 6) There is an ancient saying, Qui amicos amicum
non habet. But is not some less exclusive form of friendship better
suited to the condition and nature of man? And in those especially who
have no family ties, may not the feeling pass beyond one or a few,
and embrace all with whom we come into contact, and, perhaps in a few
passionate and exalted natures, all men everywhere? 7) The ancients
had their three kinds of friendship, 'for the