remains a topic necessary above all others to this discussion,
that of friendship, namely: which you, if pleasure is the chief good,
affirm to have no existence at all. Concerning which Epicurus speaks thus:
"That of all the things which wisdom has collected to enable man to live
happily, nothing is more important, more influential, or more delightful
than friendship." Nor did he prove this assertion by words only, but still
more by his life, and conduct, and actions. And how important a thing it
is, the fables of the ancients abundantly intimate, in which, many and
varied as they are, and traced back to the remotest antiquity, scarcely
three pairs of friends are found, even if you begin as far back as
Theseus, and come down to Orestes. But in one single house, and that a
small one, what great crowds of friends did Epicurus collect, and how
strong was the bond of affection that held them together! And this is the
case even now among the Epicureans. However, let us return to our subject:
it is not necessary for us to be discussing men.

I see, then, that the philosophers of our school have treated the question
of friendship in three ways. Some, as they denied that those pleasures
which concerned our friends were to be sought with as much eagerness for
their own sake, as we display in seeking our own, (by pressing which topic
some people think that the stability of friendship is endangered,)
maintain that doctrine resolutely, and, as I think, easily explain it.
For, as in the case of the virtues which I have already mentioned, so too
they deny that friendship can ever be separated from pleasure. For, as a
life which is solitary and destitute of friends is full of treachery and
alarm, reason itself warns us to form friendships. And when such are
formed, then our minds are strengthened, and cannot be drawn away from the
hope of attaining pleasure. And as hatred, envy, and contempt are all
opposed to pleasures, so friendships are not only the most faithful
favourers, but also are the efficient causes of pleasures to one's friends
as well as to oneself; and men not only enjoy those pleasures at the
moment, but are also roused by hopes of subsequent and future time. And as
we cannot possibly maintain a lasting and continued happiness of life
without friendship, nor maintain friendship itself unless we love our
friends and ourselves equally, therefore this very effect is produced in
friendship, and friendship is combined with ple