[3,110] καὶ τοίνυν ἡδὺ μὲν χαρίζεσθαι τοῖς ἐλευθέροις, ἀφθόνων ὄντων, ἡδὺ δὲ λαμβάνειν δῶρα, δικαίως λαμβάνοντα καὶ δι´ ἀρετήν· ὁ τοίνυν τοῖς φίλοις χαριζόμενος ἥδεται ἅμα μὲν ὡς διδούς, ἅμα δὲ ὡς αὐτὸς κτώμενος. καὶ γὰρ δὴ παλαιός ἐστιν ὁ λόγος ὁ κοινὰ ἀποφαίνων τὰ τῶν φίλων. {οὐκοῦν ἀγαθῶν παρόντων τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς οὐχ ἥκιστα ἂν εἴη ταῦτα κοινά.} (111) ἐν μὲν οὖν τοῖς ἄλλοις οὐ πάντως ὑπερβάλλειν τοὺς ἰδιώτας ὁ τοιοῦτος βασιλεὺς βούλεται, πολλαχοῦ δὲ καὶ ἔλαττον ἐκείνων ἔχειν, οἷον σχολῆς, ῥᾳθυμίας, ἀνέσεως· ἐν μόνῃ δὲ φιλίᾳ βούλεται πλεονεκτεῖν. (112) καὶ οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν ἡγεῖται ποιεῖν ἄτοπον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγάλλεται μᾶλλον μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν νεωτέρων ἀγαπώμενος ἢ οἱ γονεῖς, μᾶλλον δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἢ τοὺς παῖδας ἀγαπῶσι, μᾶλλον δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν συνόντων ἢ τοὺς ἐξ ἴσου συνόντας ἀγαπῶσι, μᾶλλον δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀκοῇ μόνον ἀκουόντων ἢ οἱ σφόδρα ἐγγὺς ὄντες ἀγαπῶσι· (113) φιλοσυγγενέστατος δὲ ὢν καὶ φιλοικειότατος ἔσθ´ ὅπῃ μεῖζον ἀγαθὸν νενόμικε τὴν φιλίαν τῆς συγγενείας. ἄνευ μὲν γὰρ συγγενείας οἱ φίλοι χρήσιμοι, ἄνευ δὲ φιλίας οὐδὲ οἱ σφόδρα ἐγγὺς ὠφέλιμοι. τοσούτου δὲ ἀξίαν κρίνει τὴν φιλίαν, ὥστε οὐδένα ἡγεῖται τῶν πώποτε ἠδικῆσθαι ὑπὸ φίλου, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο δὴ ἓν τῶν λεγομένων ἀδυνάτων εἶναι {ὥστε καὶ παθεῖν ὑπὸ φίλου κακῶς τῶν ἀδυνάτων εἶναι κέκρικεν}. (114) ἅμα γάρ τις ἀδικῶν πεφώραται καὶ δῆλον πεποίηκεν ὅτι οὐκ ἦν φίλος. ὅσοι δὲ πεπόνθασι δεινόν, ὑπ´ ἐχθρῶν πεπόνθασι, λεγομένων μὲν φίλων, ἀγνοουμένων δὲ ὅτι ἦσαν ἐχθροί. δεῖ οὖν καταμέμφεσθαι τὴν αὑτῶν ἄγνοιαν, ἀλλὰ μὴ ψέγειν τὸ τῆς φιλίας ὄνομα.

[3,110] Then, too, while it is a pleasure to show favours to good men and true when one's means are ample, it is also a pleasure to receive gifts when they are deserved and for merit. Hence, he who shows his friends a favour rejoices both as giver and as receiver at the same time. Old, in sooth, is the proverb which says that " Common are the possessions of friends." Therefore, when the good have good things, these will certainly be held in common. (111) Now, while in any other matter, such as leisure, ease, and relaxation, our good king does not wish to have unvarying advantage over private citizens and, indeed, would often be satisfied with less, in the one matter of friendship he does want to have the larger portion ; and he doubtless thinks it in no wise peculiar or strange—nay, he actually exults because young people love him more than they do their parents, and older men more than they do their children, because his associates love him more than they do their peers, and those who know him only by hearsay love him more than they do their nearest neighbours. (113) Extremely fond of kith and kin though he may be, yet, in a way, he considers friendship a greater good than kinship. For a man's friends are useful even without the family tie, but without friendship not even the most nearly related are of service. So high a value does he set on friendship as to hold that at no time has anyone been wronged by a friend, and that such a thing belongs to the category of the impossible ; for the moment one is detected doing wrong, he has shown that he was no friend at all. Indeed, all who have suffered any outrage have suffered it at the hands of enemies - friends in name, whom they did not know to be enemies. Such sufferers must blame their own ignorance and not reproach the name of friendship.