M. Tullius Cicero, De Amicitia, William Armistead Falconer (Translator), 98

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[98] I grant that Virtue loves herself; for she best knows herself and realizes how lovable she is; but it is not virtue I am talking about but a reputation for virtue. For many wish not so much to be, as to seem to be, endowed with real virtue. Such men delight in flattery, and when a complimentary speech is fashioned to suit their fancy they think the empty phrase is proof of their own merits. There is nothing, therefore, in a friendship in which one of the parties to it does not wish to hear the truth and the other is ready to lie. Nor should we see any humour in the fawning parasites in comedies if there were no braggart soldiers.¹

In truth did Thais send me many thanks?

It would have been enough to answer, Many. Millions of them, said the parasite. The flatterer always magnifies that which the one for whose gratification he speaks wishes to be large.

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.) — 98 focus

[98] omnino est amans sui virtus; optime enim se ipsa novit quamque amabilis sit intellegit: ego autem non de virtute nunc loquor, sed de virtutis opinione. virtute enim ipsa non tam multi praediti esse quam videri volunt. hos delectat assentatio, his fictus ad ipsorum voluntatem sermo cum adhibetur, orationem illam vanam testimonium esse laudum suarum putant. nulla est igitur haec amicitia, cum alter verum audire non volt, alter ad mentiendum paratus est. nec parasitorum in comoediis assentatio faceta nobis videretur, nisi essent milites gloriosi.

magnas vero agere gratias Thais mihi?

satis erat respondere magnas. ingentis, inquit Semper auget assentator id, quod is, cuius ad voluntatem dicitur, volt esse magnum.

Notes on the current edition

Laelius on Friendship

1. Laelius has in mind Thraso in the Eunuch of Terence, from which (ii. 1. 1) the following line is taken, and Pyrgopolinices, the braggart soldier in Plautus’ Miles Gloriosus. The disgust Laelius feels at the fawning of the parasite is relieved by the humour of the soldier.

M. Tullius Cicero De Amicitia 98

William Armistead Falconer (Translator)

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