I
F you would have your house securely inhabited,
imitate the Spartan Lycurgus. And as he did
not enclose his city with walls, but fortified the
inhabitants with virtue, and preserved the city
always free, so you do likewise; not surround
yourself with a great courtyard, nor raise high
towers, but strengthen those that live with you
by benevolence and fidelity and friendship. And
thus nothing hurtful will enter, even if the whole
band of wickedness was set in array against it.
EPICTETUS. FRAGMENTS. 40.
T
HERE is nothing more shameful than perfidious friendship.
MARCUS AURELIUS. MEDITATIONS. Book xi. 7.
H
E is the master of every other person who
is able to confer or remove whatever that
person wishes to have or to avoid. Whoever then
would be free, let him wish nothing, let him decline
nothing, which depends on others, else he must
necessarily be a slave.
EPICTETUS. MANUAL. 14.
True friendship seems to be the thread that is common to these fragments for our reading today. True friendship that is based on virtue and companionship. Let us strive to be a friend worthy of the best that friendship has to offer. This will sure to shore up our lives on a firm foundation of love and true fidelity.
ReplyDeleteSummary: Do not surround your home with walls and high towers. Rather strengthen those around you by benevolence, fidelity and true friendship.
ReplyDeleteTo create a safe society, we must first be willing to be the nexus of that safety. To be safe, we must be will to provide safety.