M. Tullius Cicero, De Amicitia, William Armistead Falconer (Translator), 42

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[42] Why do I say these things? Because without associates¹no one attempts any such mischiefs. It must, therefore, be enjoined upon good men²that if by any chance they should inadvisedly fall into friendships of this kind, they must not think themselves so bound that they cannot withdraw from friends who are sinning in some important matter of public concern; for wicked men, on the other hand, a penalty must be enacted, and assuredly it will not be lighter for the followers than for the leaders in treason. Who was more eminent in Greece than Themistocles, who more powerful? But he, after having saved Greece from slavery by his leadership in the war with Persia, and after having been banished because of his unpopularity, would not submit to the injustice of an ungrateful country, as he was in duty bound to do: he did the same thing that Coriolanus had done among our people twenty years before. Not one single supporter could be found to aid these men against their country; therefore, each took his own life.³

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

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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.) — 42 focus

[42] quorsum haec? quia sine sociis nemo quicquam tale conatur. praecipiendum est igitur bonis, ut; si in eius modi amicitias ignari casu aliquo inciderint, ne existiment ita se alligatos, ut ab amicis in magna aliqua re publica peccantibus non discedant; improbis autem poena statuenda est, nec vero minor eis qui secuti erunt alterum, quam eis qui ipsi fuerint impietatis duces. quis clarior in Graecia Themistocle, quis potentior? qui cum imperator bello Persico servitute Graeciam liberavisset propterque invidiam in exsilium expulsus esset, ingratae patriae iniuriam non tulit, quam ferre debuit: fecit idem quod viginti annis ante apud nos fecerat Coriolanus. His adiutor contra patriam inventus est nemo; itaque mortem sibi uterque conscivit.

Notes on the current edition

Laelius on Friendship

1. e.g. as in the friendship between Carbo and Tiberius Gracchus.

2. Good men, in political parlance were the members of the aristocratic party.

3. The treason of Themistocles was in 471 B.C.; that of Coriolanus in 491. Thucydides, i. 68, says that Themistocles died a natural death at Magnesia, in Asia Minor, and Livy ii. 40 quotes Pictor as saying that Coriolanus lived to an advanced age among the Volscians; see also Cic. Att. ix. 10. 3; Plut. Them. 31.

M. Tullius Cicero De Amicitia 42

William Armistead Falconer (Translator)

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