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[45]
But I am speaking here of ordinary
friendships; for among men who are ideally wise
and perfect such situations cannot arise.
They say that Damon and Phintias, of the Pythagorean 1 school, enjoyed such ideally perfect friendship, that when the tyrant Dionysius had appointed a
day for the execution of one of them, and the one
who had been condemned to death requested a few
days' respite for the purpose of putting his loved
ones in the care of friends, the other became surety
for his appearance, with the understanding that if
his friend did not return, he himself should be put
to death. And when the friend returned on the
day appointed, the tyrant in admiration for their
faithfulness begged that they would enrol him as a
third partner in their friendship.
1 Damon and Phintias.
M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.
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