Book 8
4
Friendship between good men then is the truest friendship, as has been said several times before. For it is agreed that what is good and pleasant absolutely is lovable and desirable strictly, while what is good and pleasant for a particular person is lovable and desirable relatively to that person; but the friendship of good men for each other rests on both these grounds.i.e., good men love each other because they are both good and pleasant absolutely and good and pleasant for each other.
5
LikingThis sentence would come better after the following one. seems to be an emotion, friendship a fixed disposition, for liking can be felt even for inanimate things, but reciprocal likingCf. 2.3. involves deliberate choice, and this springs from a fixed disposition. Also, when men wish the good of those they love for their own sakes, their goodwill does not depend on emotion but on a fixed disposition. And in loving their friend they love their own good, for the good man in becoming dear to another becomes that other’s good. Each party therefore both loves his own good and also makes an equivalent return by wishing the other’s good, and by affording him pleasure; for there is a saying, Amity is equality, and this is most fully realized in the friendships of the good.
