Volume 1 - Discourses - Books I - II - College of Stoic Philosophers

BOOK II. xxn. 24-29or brothers, who seem to be of one mind, do notinstantly make pronouncement about their friendship.,not even if they swear to it, nor even if theysay that they cannot be separated from one another.The ruling principle of the bad man is not to betrusted ;it is insecure, incapable of judgement, aprey now to one external impression and now toanother. Nay, do not make the same enquiry thatmost men do, asking whether two men are of thesame parents, or were brought up together, or hadthe same school attendant, but this, and this only :Where do they put their interest outside themselves,or in their moral purpose ? If outside, callthem not friends, any more than you would callthem faithful, steadfast, courageous, or free ; nay,call them not even human beings, if you are wise.For it is no judgement of human sort which makesthem bite (that is revile) one another, and take tothe desert (that is, to the market-place) as wildbeasts take to the mountains, and in courts of lawact the part of brigands; nor is it a judgementof human sort which makes them profligates andadulterers and corrupters nor is it; any such thingwhich makes men guilty of any of the many othercrimes which they commit against one another ;itis because of one single judgement, and this alonebecause they put themselves and what belongs tothemselves in the category of things which lie outsidethe sphere of moral purpose. But ifyou hear thesemen assert that in all sincerity they believe the goodto be where moral purpose lies, and where there isthe right use of external impressions, then you needno longer trouble yourself as to whether they areson and father, or brothers, or have been schoolmatesVOL. . J> D401