Kitap 7
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And it is much the same as this in regard to misfortunes also; sometimes we wish our friends to be absent, and do not want to give them pain when their presence is not going to do any good, but at other times for them to be present is most pleasant. And the reason of this contrariety is very easily explained; it comes about because of the things stated before,Cf. Aristot. Eud. Eth. 1245b 26-1246a 2. and because to behold a friend in pain or in a bad state is a thing we absolutely shun, as we shun it in our own case, but to see a friend is as pleasant as anything can be, for the reason stated,Cf. Aristot. Eud. Eth. 1245a 26-b 9. and indeed to see him ill if one is ill oneself;
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so that whichever of these is more pleasant, it sways the balance of wishing him to be present or not.And it fits in that the former occurs in the case of inferior people, and for the same reason; they are most eager for their friends not to prosper and not to be absent if they themselves have to suffer adversity. Hence sometimes suicides kill those whom they love with themselves, as they think that they feel their own misfortune more if their loved ones are to surviveIn the Greek this clause is left to be understood.; just as, if a man in trouble had the memory that he had once been prosperous, he would be more conscious of his trouble than if he thought that he had always done badly.
