DE OFFICIIS - M. TVLLI CICERONIS

Liber Primus

[56] Et quamquam omnis virtus nos ad se allicit

And while every virtue attracts us

facitque, ut eos diligamus, in quibus ipsa inesse videatur,

and makes us love those who seem to possess it,

tamen iustitia et liberalitas id maxime efficit.

still justice and generosity do so most of all.

Nihil autem est amabilius nec copulatius, quam morum similitudo bonorum;

Nothing, moreover, is more conducive to love and intimacy than compatibility of character in good men;

in quibus enim eadem studia sunt, eaedem voluntates, in iis fit,

for when two people have the same ideals and the same tastes,

ut aeque quisque altero delectetur ac se ipso,

it is a natural consequence that each loves the other as himself;

efficiturque id, quod Pythagoras vult in amicitia, ut unus fiat ex pluribus.

and the result is, as Pythagoras requires of ideal friendship, that several are united in one.

Magna etiam illa communitas est, quae conficitur ex beneficiis ultro et citro datis acceptis,

Another strong bond of fellowship is effected by mutual interchange of kind services;

quae et mutua et grata dum sunt,

and as long as these kindnesses are mutual and acceptable,

inter quos ea sunt firma devinciuntur societate.

those between whom they are interchanged are united by the ties of an enduring intimacy.

Source: Marcus Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. Translated by Walter Miller. Loeb Edition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1913. http://www.stoics.com