The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius - College of Stoic Philosophers

290 LJELIUS; OR,
which his own powers were not abundantly adequate.
I am sure, at least, I should have been deprived of a most
exquisite satisfaction if no opportunity had ever offered
to approve the affectionate zeal of my heart towards
Scipio, and he had never had occasion, either in his civil or
military transactions, to make use of my counsel or my aid.
The true distinction, then, in this question is, that
although friendship is certainly productive of utility,
yet utility is not the primary motive of friendship.
Those selfish sensualists, therefore, who lulled in the lap
of luxury presume to maintain the reverse, have surely
no claim to attention, as they are neither qualified by
reflection nor experience to be competent judges of the
subject.
Good gods
! is there a man upon the face of the earth
who would deliberately accept of all the wealth and all
the affluence this world can bestow if offered to him upon
the severe terms of his
being unconnected with a single
mortal whom he could love or by whom he should be
beloved ? This would be to lead the wretched life of a
detested tyrant, who, amidst perpetual suspicions and
alarms, passes his miserable days a stranger to every
tender sentiment, and utterly precluded from the heartfelt
satisfactions of friendship.
For who can love the man he
fears ? or how can affection dwell with a consciousness
of being feared ? He may be flattered, indeed, by his
followers with the specious semblance of personal attach
ment, but whenever he falls (and many instances there
are of such a reverse of fortune) it will appear how totally
destitute he stood of every genuine friend. Accordingly
it is
reported that Tarquin used to say in his exile, that
his misfortunes had taught him to discern his real from
his pretended friends, as it was now no longer in his
returns. I should
power to make either of them any
much wonder, however, if, with a temper so insolent and
ferocious, he ever had a sincere friend.