poterit ei cui se putabit inimicum esse posse? Quin etiam necesse erit cupere et optare ut quam saepissime peccet amicus, quo plures det sibi tamquam ansas ad reprehendendum; rursum autem recte factis commodisque amicorum necesse erit angi, dolere, invidere. 5 60. Quare hoc quidem praeceptum cuiuscunque est ad tollendam amicitiam valet. Illud potius praecipiendum fuit, ut eam diligentiam adhiberemus in amicitiis comparandis ut ne quando amare inciperemus eum quem aliquando odisse possemus. Quin etiam si minus 10 felices in deligendo fuissemus, ferendum id Scipio potius quam inimicitiarum tempus cogitandum putabat. CHAPTER XVII. What are the limits then? (a) We must support a friend in his extremity at the cost even of a slight deviation from strict right, only being careful that this goes not too far. (b) Friends being the most important of possessions, we should examine and test them more carefully than other property, especially their behaviour in adversity. 61. His igitur finibus utendum arbitror, ut cum emendati mores amicorum sint, tum sit inter eos omnium rerum, consiliorum, voluntatum sine ulla ex- 15 ceptione communitas, ut etiam, si qua fortuna acciderit ut minus iustae amicorum voluntates adiuvandae sint in quibus eorum aut caput agatur aut fama, declinandum sit de via, modo ne summa turpitudo sequatur: est enim quatenus amicitiae dari venia possit. Nec 20 Here he seems to have been guilty of the usual peculation and extortion, for which he was condemned and fined. He served as a legatus in the Jugurthine war, and seems to have been guilty of treason; fearing to be condemned for this he retired to Tarraco, and became a citizen of that town [pro Balb. 11]. CATO, §§ 4, 5, 9, 76, 90. Marcus Porcius Cato Censorius was born at Tusculum, where his family had for many generations been in a respectable position, though he was the first of them to obtain office at Rome. He was born in or about B.C. 235 and died in B.C. 149. He served in the army in the early years of Hannibal's invasion, and in B.C. 205 was Quaestor, in which office he served under Scipio in Sicily. In B.C. 199 he was Aedile, in B.C. 195 Consul, and Pro-Consul in Spain in the following year. In these offices he established a high character for uprightness and strictness of discipline, as well as for military ability. In B.C. 184 he was Censor, and the severity with which he executed this office obtained him the cognomen (not officially assumed apparently) of Censorius or the Censor. By his first wife Licinia he had one son, whose loss is alluded to in § 9 of the text. Plutarch [ch. 24] thus speaks of this loss. 'His elder son died while Praetor' (really while Praetor-designate in B.C. 152), and Cato often mentions him in his writings as having 'acted like a man of courage. Yet he is said to have borne his 'loss gently and philosophically, and to have been no less keen "in public business for it'. Cato wrote a considerable number of books, but only one de re rustica has come down to us in anything like a complete form. Life by Cornelius Nepos and Plutarch. CORIOLANUS, §§ 36 and 42. Caius Marcius, the hero of one of the most popular legends in the early history of Rome, obtained the cognomen Coriolanus from his victory over Corioli, according to the common chronology in B.c. 493. Being a strenuous opponent of the Plebs, and resisting the authority of the Tribunes, he was accused of treason and, not appearing, was condemned. He went to the Volsci in his exile, with whom he advanced to attack Rome, from which he was deterred by his mother's intreaties. Livy 2. 33-40. Life by Plutarch. CORUNCANIUS, §§ 18 and 39. Titus Coruncanius, a jurist, was Consul in B.C. 280. His chief fame rests on his profound knowledge of law, which he publicly taught, and for his skill in which he received like other |