Book 7
6
And our private rights in relation to our friends depend only on ourselves, whereas our rights in relation to the rest of men are established by law and do not depend on us.
7
Many questions are raised about friendship—first, on the line of those who take in wider considerations and extend the term. For some hold that like is friend to like, whence the sayings: Mark how God ever brings like men together Hom. Od. 17.218 ; For jackdaw by the side of jackdaw . . .; Birds of a feather flock together. Sc. ἱζάνει, perches : an iambic verse quoted in full Aristot. Gtr. Mor. 1208b 9, and in the form κολοιὸν ποτὶ κολοιόν Aristot. Nic. Eth. 1155a 35, where the dialect suggests that it is from a Doric poet (unknown). And thief knows thief and wolf his fellow wolf.set a thief to catch a thief. The origin of the verse is unknown.
8
And the natural philosophers even arrange the whole of nature in a system by assuming as a first principle that like goes to like, owing to which EmpedoclesMystic philosopher, man of science and statesman of Agrigentum, fl. 490 B.C. said that the dog sits on the tiling because it is most like him.Presumably, like in color; true of Greek dogs today. Empedocles does not appear to have gone on to infer protective mimicry.
