that all is well with Scipio For unless He expected an Immortality on Earth which I dare say He never did what is there in the Ambition of Man that He did not obtain who in his growing years not only answer'd but out-did the mighty Hopes which all Rome had of his Childhood who never sought the Consulship yet was twice made Consul once before the usual time and again for his own sake at the usual time tho' for the Nations sake not soon enough who by conquering two Cities that were the greatest Enemies to this Empire did not only put a stop to those Wars for the present but prevented them for the future What shall I say of his sweet disposition his Dutifulness to his Mother his Kindness to his Sisters his Goodness to his Friends his Justice to all the World These you Both know and how dear he was to Rome their Sorrow at his Funeral sufficiently declares Now what good could the addition of a few Years have done Him since Age tho' it is not grievous as I remember Cato told Me and Scipio the year before he died yet it takes off from that Vigor and Activity of Mind which was yet alive in Scipio whose Life as well as his Fortune and his Glory was already such as not to be capable of any improvement The sense of his Death was lessen'd by the suddenness of it what kind of Death it was is hard for me to determine what others suspect you hear But this I may truly say for Scipio that of all the glorious and happy days of his Life and they were not a few none was more remarkable than That on which after the dismission of the Senate He was attended to his House in the Evening by all the Senators the Latins and other Allies of Rome which was the day before He died So that from so high a pitch of Glory He seem'd fitter to ascend to Heaven than to descend so low as the Grave I am not of their Opinion who have undertaken of late to maintain That the Soul is mortal as well as the Body and that both are extinguish'd in Death but am rather govern'd by the Authority of the Ancients whether it was derived from our Fore-fathers who perform'd such solemn Obsequies to the Dead which certainly they would never have done had they thought they had no sense of them or from Those who were formerly of this Nation and instructed the bigger Grecia which then flourish'd and is now destroy'd with their Precepts or whether we receiv'd it from Him whom Apollo declared the Wisest of Men who never contradicted his own Assertions as several have done but always taught That the Souls of Men were Immortal that upon their departure from our Bodies they were receiv'd into Heaven and that the best and justest Persons had the easiest and quickest passage thither This was Scipio's Opinion who as if he had foreseen his Death within a few days before it hapned when Philus and Manilius and my Self together with You Scaevola and some Others were with him spent three days in a Discourse about the Commonwealth and concluded with the Immortality of the Soul all which he told us he had heard from Africanus in a Dream Now if it be true that every good Man's Soul is so easily loosen'd from the Prison and Fetters of his Body who think you could have a freer passage to Heaven than Scipio So that to Weep for his Fate I 'm afraid would look more like Envy than Love Nay tho' I should suppose that all Sense is lost with Life and that Body and Soul die together yet as there is no good in Death so certainly there can be no harm For when Scipio loses all Sense he is in the same condition as if he had never been born for whose Birth not only I but all Rome will rejoice as long as it is a City Thus Heaven seems 〈◊〉 have dealt more kindly by Him tha◠by Me who as I came first into th◠World ought to have gone first out of it But the very remembrance of our Friendship is so delightful to me that I esteem my self happy in having liv'd with Scipio whose Care and mine in the management of publick and private Affairs was always the same our Life in Peace and War still the same and which is the very Soul of Friendship our Tempers Inclinations and Opinions ever the same Wherefore I am not so much pleas'd with the Name that Fannius and the World give me of Wise which is false as with the hopes I entertain that the memory of our Friendship will be Eternal and I am so much the rather induc'd to flatter my self with this Opinion because in all past Ages there are not mention'd above three or four pair of Friends among whom I have some reason to hope that the Friendship of Scipio and Laelius will be known to Posterity FANNIUS That must needs be Laelius But since you were pleas'd to make mention of Friendship and we are at leisure you will mightily oblige Me and I hope Scaevola if as you us'd formerly to discourse upon other Subjects that were propos'd so you will now let us know what are your Sentiments of Friendship how you would define it and what Rules you would lay down for the establishment of it SCAEVOLA 'T will be very acceptable to Me and I assure you I was only prevented by Fannius from making the same Request Therefore Sir what you please to say upon this Theme will oblige us Both. LAELIUS I should not be against it could I think my self sufficient For the Subject is noble and we are at leisure as Fannius says but who am I Or what is there in Me 'T is for the greatest Philosophers in Greece to speak Extempore upon every Argument the Undertaking is great and requires no small Preparation therefore if you would hear a formal Discourse upon this Subject you must expect it from those whose Practice and Profession lay that way As for me I can only advise you to prefer Friendship before all things in the World since nothing is so agreeable to the Nature of Man nothing so necessary in Prosperity or Adversity My first Opinion is that there can be no real Friendship but between Good Men Not to be so very nice as some whose Notion of Goodness tho' perhaps it is not altogether false is very useless to and destructive of Society for they deny that any Man can be Good unless he be Wise Be it so But their Wisdom as they define it is such as never Man yet attain'd Now the Wisdom I would look for in a Good man is such as is useful and practicable not an imaginary Vertue that is only to be wish'd for According to their Rules I shall never allow C. Fabricius M. Curius and T. Coruncanius to be Wise tho' all our Fore fathers esteem'd them so Therefore let them keep to themselves their obscure and invidious definition of Wisdom and grant
Cicero's LAELIUS A DISCOURSE OF FRIENDSHIP Together with a Pastoral Dialogue Concerning FRIENDSHIP and LOVE Licensed Rob. Midgley LONDON Printed for William Crooke at the Green-Dragon without Temple-Bar 1691. THE PREFACE THE usual design of a Preface is either for an Introduction to the Book it self or an Apology to the Reader for the Publication of it the Former of these being the more pertinent and useful of the two thô 't is partly done already by my Author I shall insist most upon that The following Discourse was written by Tully as Himself observes in his later years which produc'd many excellent Treatises in This particularly we find more of Majesty than Gaiety in his Style we see the Philosopher joyn'd to the Orator and which is somewhat rare the Friend to the States man he being qualify'd besides his own natural Abilities by a long experience of Friendship in his familiarity with Pomponius Atticus to treat of this Subject with great exactuess The Discourse being occasion'd by Scipio's Death and his Character making so considerable a part of it it will not be improper to set down some brief Memoirs of his Life which may serve to explain several Passages in this Treatise He was the Son of Paullus Aemilius the greatest General of his time from whom he was call'd Aemilianus Plutarch in Vit. Paulli Aemilij and upon the Divorce that happen'd between his Parents was adopted by the Son of Africanus major his Cousin-german and by him nam'd Scipio Plutarch says that from his Youth he was endu'd above any of his Equals with all the good Qualities requisite in a General or a States-man Ibid. First He serv'd under his Father in the Macedonian War and had a considerable share in the defeat of Perseus's Army Afterwards Oros Lib. 4. Cap. 23. in the Third Punic War which began 606 Years after the Building of Rome and lasted 4 Years he overthrew Carthage and from his Successes in Africk got the Title of Africanus Minor About 15 Years after that Oros Lib. 5. he reduc'd Numantia after it had held out for 14 Years against the Romans Whilst he lay with his Army before this Place Plutarch in Vit. Tib. Gracch Oros Lib. 5. Cap. 8. the Sedition of the Gracchi broke out at Rome and Tiberius Gracchus the Elder of the two Brothers having endeavour'd the establishment of some new Laws in favour of the Commons which were against the interest of the Nobility was slain in the Capitol in his Second Tribuneship Vpon Scipio's return to Rome he being ask'd by Caius Gracchus and Fulvius Plutarch in Vit. C. Gracch what he thought of Tiberius's Death reply'd That he always dislik'd Tiberius's way of Proceeding This Answer thô 't was deliver'd with a great deal of sincerity lost him the affections of the Populace and mightily iucens'd Caius Soon after this Idem ibid. in Vit. Romuh Scipio was found dead in his Bed and no outward Cause of his Death appear'd Some said he dy'd easily and suddainly having been naturally sickly others that he poison'd himself others that his Enemies who were suppos'd to be Caius Gracchus and Fulvius broke in upon him in the night and stifled him Certain it is that they Two were suspected to be the Authors of his Death and tho' his Body lay open to be seen of all and gave some suspicion of a violent Death yet there was no publick Enquiry made into it and 't was thought the Rabble oppos'd all Proceedings of Justice for fear that Caius should be found accessary to the Murder His Death happen'd in Caius's second Tribuneship who pursuing the same measures with his Brother suffer'd the same fate and being forsaken by all his Adherents was slain by his own Servant Plutarch in Vit. Paull Aemil. Scipio in his life-time was esteem'd the Valiantest of the Romans and had the greatest Authority among them He was a strict abserver of Military Discipline Flor. Lib. 2. Cap. 18. and made a great Reformation in the Army His vacant hours were employ'd in the Study of Philosophy and Politicks in which he had Panaetius and Polybius for his Masters Thus was his Life divided between the Arts of War and Peace in both which his Friend Laelius shar'd with him who was no less famous for Wisdom than Scipio for Valor In Vit. Ti. Gracch Plutarch gives us a remarkable Instance of his prudent management in the Divisions that happen'd in Rome about the Agratian Law which gain'd him the Name of Laelius the Wise Thus much by way of Introduction As for the Apology tho' I think the Translation wants it very much for really I don't know how to justify the Presumption of an attempt to express Tully's Conceptions in any other Language or Words than his own yet I 'm sure the Poem that follows stands in most need of it and being more my Own must consequently be more obnoxious to Censure However I have ventur'd to place it at the End as treating of the same Subject tho' upon a different Occasion I hope the Fair Sex will not think their Prerogative invaded because in that Poem I prefer Friendship to Love since the Love I condemn there is a Passion which I dare say the Best and Modestest part of them will not think themselves concern'd to defend As for Conjugal Love I look upon it as a Vnion of Souls as well as Bodies and a State so exactly conformable to all the Laws of Friendship that methinks the Names of Friend and Wife should signifie the same They who will think it something unseasonable for Me to be giving Rules of Friendship when all the World is in Arms may as well blame Laelius for making this Discourse when Rome was distracted by the Ambition of Gracchus and Tully for publishing it at a time when all Italy was divided by the Factions of Pompey and Caesar Certainly Remedies are never more Necessary than when Diseases are most Epidemical I hope the Reader is not curious to know whether these Papers are publish'd at the Importunity of Friends by the Command of Superiors or for the Prevention of false Copies These are the common Topics which every Prefacer makes use of to justify his intrusion into the Press I shall therefore wave all Evasions and boldly but my self upon my Reader 's mercy for I don't understand why an Author may not have the liberty of keeping his Reasons to himself as well as his Name CICERO'S LAELIUS A DISCOURSE OF FRIENDSHIP The Author 's Prefatory Epistle To T. Pomponius Atticus QVintus Mucius Scaevola the Augur would often talk of Caius Laelius his Father-in-Law with a great deal of pleasure and in all his Discourses gave him the Title of Wise As soon as I came to Age my Father dispos'd of me so entirely to this Scaevola that unless some extraordinary occasion call'd me away I was never from him During this time I furnish'd my Memory with many excellent Sayings and useful
that These were Wise Men but they won't do that They 'll deny this to any one that is not their Wise Man Then let us speak a plain Truth in plain English They whose Life and Conversation is such that their Honesty Integrity Justice and Goodness are generally approv'd They that are neither Covetous Lustful nor Bold and have but that Principle of Honor that was in the Persons I just now mention'd they I think are and ought to be accounted Good Men Who as far as Man can go follow the Dictates of Nature the best and surest Guide For methinks 't is Natural to all Mankind to maintain a mutual Society especially where there is a Relation thus we find that our Country men are dearer to us than Foreigners and our Kinsmen than Strangers For Nature seems to have planted in us a kind of regard and tenderness for the former But these are not always sufficient tyes upon our Affections For there is this difference between Affinity and Friendship that the first may subsist without Love whereas the last cannot take away Love and the very Name of Friendship is gone tho' that of Affinity shall remain How great the power of Friendship is we may gather from hence that of all the numerous and different Societies which Nature has appointed among Men This alone is contracted into so narrow a compass that Love is always limited to Two or very few Persons Now Friendship is an unanimous consent of Opinions in all Matters relating to Religion or Civil Affairs with all Love and Kindness Which next to Wisdom I hold to be the greatest Blessing that the immortal Gods ever bestow'd upon Man Others may prefer Riches Health Power Honor and Pleasure which indeed is the highest Bliss that Beasts are capable of attaining but these are frail and fleeting Enjoyments whose possession lays not so much in our own power as in the arbitrary disposal of Fortune They that place the Supreme Good in Vertue are most in the right but in the mean time 't is this very Vertue that creates and maintains Friendship for there can be no such thing as a Friend without it Let us now measure Vertue by the common Rules of Life and Conversation not like some of our modern Virtuosi by lofty Expressions let us call them Good Men who have always been reputed so such as Paulus Cato Gallus Scipio and Philus who are the best Patterns to live by and not seek after Others who are never to be found Among these Men there were more and stronger engagements of Affection than I am able to number or express First then How can Life live as Ennius has it without an acquiescence in the mutual Love of some Friend What is happier than to have a Companion whom one may trust as one's self Where were the pleasures and enjoyments of Prosperity without a Friend who shall rejoice for them as if they were his own How hard is it to undergo the burden of Adversity without one that shall take the greatest share upon himself All other things that are desirable to Man are proper only for one end or occasion Riches serve for Vse Power for Respect Honour for Praise Pleasures for Delight Health for Ease and Business but Friendship is suitable to every occasion wherever you go it follows you it is neither to be excluded from any Place nor unseasonable or troublesom at any Time so that we have not more frequent occasion as they say for Fire Air and Water than we have for Friendship I am not now speaking of the common and ordinary Friendship tho' that too is not without it's Pleasure and Use but of that which is more refin'd and perfect That I mean which was between those few Persons I have mention'd Such Friendship as this is an Ornament to Prosperity and a Support and Comfort in Adversity But amongst all the Conveniences of Friendship which are many and great I hold this to be the greatest that in the lowest ebb of Fortune it still bears up with chearful hopes of a better condition never suffering the Mind to despond or be cast down He that looks upon his Friend sees Himself as in a Glass so that Absence cannot divide them Want impoverish them Sickness weaken them nor which is stranger Death kill them such esteem and honor for his Memory does a Man leave behind him to his surviving Friend that the Life of the One is glorious and the Death of the Other happy Take away mutual Love from among Men and you will find that neither Cities nor Families will stand nay not so much as Agriculture will last If this does not serve to convince you of the efficacy of Friendship and Concord you may learn to value it from the fatal consequences of Dissention and Discord What Family is so strongly Allied what City so well Fortifi'd that it cannot be utterly destroy'd by Factions and Animosities From hence by the Rule of Contraries we may easily gather the many benefits that arise from Friendship A certain Philosopher * Empedocles Vid. Sext. Empiric adv Mathem lib. 8. of Agrigentum is reported to say in Greek Verse That all things in Nature and in the Universe whether they be fix'd or moveable are kept together by Friendship or divided by Discord the Truth of this Sentence is evident to every Man from his own Experience What Acclamations were there in the Theatre t'other day when in my Friend Pacuvius's new Play the King not knowing which of the two Strangers was Orestes Pylades avouch'd himself to be Orestes that he might die for his Friend and Orestes protested himself to be what he really was the true Orestes Now if the bare Representation of a Story was so generally applauded by the Audience what do you think they would have done if it had been Matter of Fact Here Nature plainly shews her power when Men own that to be well done in another which they would not do themselves Thus have I as well as I could declar'd my Sentiments of Friendship If any thing more remains to be said as I believe there is much you must expect it from those who handle this Subject more at large FANNIUS But we had rather expect it from You for tho' I have frequently desired it from others and heard them with some satisfaction yet we know You have another way of Delivering your self upon all occasions SCAEVOLA You would say so indeed Fannius had you been present at the Debare which was held about the Republick in Scipio's Garden to hear how bravely he desended Justice against the subtle Objections of Philus FANNIUS 'T was easie for so Just a Person to speak for Justice SCAEVOLA Then sure it must be as easie for him to discourse of Friendship whose chief glory it is that he has with all the strictest Methods of Truth Constancy and Justice observ'd its Rules and Precepts LAELIUS Nay now ye lay a Force upon me no matter by what Arguments 't is
same time when these Men have the confidence to require a Compliance with all their Demands they seem to profess that They would do any thing right or wrong to serve a Friend But this is an old Complaint which has not only parted Friends but created Mortal and Implacable Enemies These are the Inconveniences which Scipio thought so incident to common Friendships that he who could conquer or avoid them was to be esteem'd not only a Wise but a Happy Man And now if you please let us consider how far Love ought to proceed in Friendship If Coriolanus had Friends ought they to have born Arms with him against their Country Should the Friends of Viscellinus or Sp. Moelius have assisted their Ambition in aspiring to the Empire We saw but t'other day that Tib. Gracchus when he disturb'd the Government was forsaken by Qu. Tubero and all his Friends that were of any Quality But C. Blossius of Cuma an Acquaintance of your Family Scoevola when he came to me to the Senate Loenas and Rupilius being then Consuls to sue for his Pardon urg'd this Argument for his Excuse Because he had so high an esteem for Tib. Gracchus that he thought himself oblig'd to do whatever he desir'd But what said I if he should bid you Fire the Capitol He would never have propos'd that answer'd he Well but what if he had Truly said he I should have done it You hear how Wickedly he spoke and really he did as he said or rather more For he was no longer the Instrument but the Author of Gracchus's Rage and was his Leader rather than his Companion in all his desperate Attempts at last the Hot brain'd Rebel being terrifi'd by a heavy Accusation for fresh Crimes fled into Asia and revolted to the Enemy and in the end was overtaken by a severe but just Punishment for all his Treasons Therefore it won't excuse you from the Offence to say you offended for a Friend's sake for Vertue being the very cement of Friendship there is no preserving the one if you forsake the other Now if we judge it very fit for us to comply with all the Desires of a Friend and for him to do the same by us we have Reason on our side as long as the Matter of his Request is not unlawful I speak here of such Friends as we have before our Eyes such as we meet with in History or Conversation Those we are to make our Precedents and those chiefly who come nearest to the true Wisdom We have heard of the intimate Friendship between Papus Aemilius and C. Luscinus who as Tradition tells us were twice Consuls together and twice Censors and we find that M. Curius and T. Coruncanius were familiar with them and between themselves Now we can't suppose that any one of these would ever press the other to the performance of ought that touch'd their Honor their Oath or their Loyalty No they were Men of so much Vertue that if such Demands were ever made I dare say they were never granted Yet we see Tib. Gracchus was assisted by C. Carbo C. Cato and his Brother Caius who proves a greater Stickler for that Faction since his Brother's Death than he was before Therefore we may take this for a general Rule in Friendship Neither to make nor grant any dishonourable Request For in all other Offences but especially in those that are against our Country 't is a poor Evasion to cry They were committed upon a Friend's account Now we are fallen into such Times Fannius and Scoevola that it concerns us to look as far as we can into the Future state of the Republick especially since we have degenerated from the Customs and Manners of our Ancestors Tib. Gracchus strove to obtain or rather did actually usurp the Supreme Power for a few Months Did ever any Roman see or hear the like Yet even after his Death his Friends and Adherents maintain'd what he had done nor can I mention their usage of P. Nasica Scipio without Tears Carbo whom I nam'd just now we bore with by reason we had punish'd Tib. Gracchus so lately What will be the Event of C. Gracchus's Tribuneship I shall not pretend to guess that Affair grows daily upon us and if it once gets a Head will be very pernicious to the Republick You may see by every Poll for Magistrates what mischievous Consequences have attended the Gabinian Law and that which Cassius brought in two years after And now methinks I see the Senate and People of Rome divided and all things manag'd by a Head-strong Multitude whilst some stand looking on and are more curious to enquire what occasion'd these Calamities than how they should be remedied But what 's the Reason of all this Truly because no Body would dare to attempt such a thing without a Party Therefore every Honest Man must be caution'd that tho' his Friendship should betray him unawares into such Alliances yet he must ot hold himself oblig'd to stand by his Friend in any Design that tends to the subversion or prejudice of the Commonwealth For all Offenders of this kind some Punishment must be provided and no less for the Adherents than for the Leaders of a Faction Who in all Greece was more Renown'd or more Powerful than Themistocles who deliver'd that Nation from Slavery in the Persian War where he was General Yet after all this Man when he was Banish'd thro' the Jealousie of his Fellow-Citizen knew not how to bear that Affront from his Ungrateful Country tho' 't was his Duty to have born it but took the same course as Coriolanus had done here Twenty years before him and Revolted Neither of these could find a Friend that would assist them against his Country and therefore Both kill'd themselves Now I say such wicked Associations as these must not only be deny'd the umbrage of Friendship for their Excuse but should be made liable to some heavy Censure that no Man may think it lawful upon any account to take up Arms with his Friend against his Country which for ought I can see as things go now may too frequently happen For my part I am no less concern'd to think what the Condition of the Republick will be after my Death than what is now in my Life time Therefore this must be laid down as the first Maxim in Friendship To request what is just of our Friends and to perform what is just for them scarcely respiting the performance so long as to be ask'd Let us always be ready to oblige them and exclude all delays from Friendship Let us be willing and glad to give good Counsel and let the Authority of a Friend if his Advice be honest go a great way with us this Authority must extend it self not only to open Admonitions but where occasion requires to severe Reproofs and then it must be strictly obey'd Yet some who I hear are esteem'd Wise in Greece please themselves with strange and singular Opinions but nothing