M. Tullius Cicero, De Amicitia, William Armistead Falconer (Translator), 37

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[37] As to Tiberius Gracchus, when he began to stir up revolution against the republic,¹we saw him utterly deserted by Quintus Tubero and by the friends of his own age. And yet Gaius Blossius of Cumae, a protégé of your family,²Scaevola, came to me to plead for leniency, because I was present as adviser to the consuls, Laenas and Rupilius,³and offered, as a reason for my pardoning him, the fact that his esteem for Tiberius Gracchus was so great he thought it was his duty to do anything that Tiberius requested him to do. Thereupon I inquired, Even if he requested you to set fire to the Capitol? He never would have requested me to do that, of course, said he, but if he had I should have obeyed. You see what an impious remark that was! And, by heavens! he did all that he said he would do, or rather even more; for he did not follow, but he directed, the infatuation of Tiberius Gracchus, and he did not offer himself as the comrade in the latter’s fury, but as the leader. And so, as a result of his madness, being in fear of the special court of inquiry, he fled into Asia, joined our enemies, and paid a heavy and righteous penalty⁴for his crimes against the Republic.

Therefore it is no justification whatever of your sin to have sinned in behalf of a friend; for, since his belief in your virtue induced the friendship, it is hard for that friendship to remain if you have forsaken virtue.

De Amicitia. M. Tullius Cicero. William Armistead Falconer (Translator). Cambridge. 1923.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Laelius on Friendship (English) (Cicero. De Senectute, De Amicitia, De Divinatione. Falconer, William Armistead, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1923 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Laelius De Amicitia Perseus (Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De senectute; De amicitia; De divinatione. Falconer, W. A., editor. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1923.) — 37 focus

[37] tiberium quidem Gracchum rem publicam vexantem a Q. Tuberone aequalibusque amicis derelictum videbamus. At C. Blossius Cumanus, hospes familiae vestrae, Scaevola, cum ad me, quod aderam Laenati et Rupilio consulibus in consilio, deprecatum venisset, hanc ut sibi ignoscerem causam afferebat, quod tanti Tib. Gracchum fecisset, ut quidquid ille vellet sibi faciendum putaret. tum ego, etiamne, inquam, si te in Capitolium faces ferre vellet? numquam voluisset id quidem, sed, si voluisset, paruissem. videtis, quam nefaria vox. et hercule ita fecit, vel plus etiam quam dixit; non enim paruit ille Tib. Gracchi temeritati, sed praefuit, nec se comitem illius furoris, sed ducem praebuit. itaque hac amentia, quaestione nova perterritus, in Asiam profugit, ad hostis se contulit, poenas rei publicae gravis iustasque persolvit.

nulla est igitur excusatio peccati, si amici causa peccaveris; nam, cum conciliatrix amicitiae virtutis opinio fuerit, difficile est amicitiam manere, si a virtute defeceris.

Notes on the current edition

Laelius on Friendship

1. i.e. in 133 B.C.

2. Cumae did not then possess the Roman franchise.

3. Consuls in 132 B.C. when the inquiry into the acts of Tiberius Gracchus were made.

4. i.e. by his suicide after the defeat by the Romans of Aristonicus whom he had joined.

M. Tullius Cicero De Amicitia 37

William Armistead Falconer (Translator)

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