ABSTRACT
Liking seems to be an emotion, friendship a fixed disposition. The young make friends quickly, but the old do not, since they do not make friends with people if they do not enjoy their company; and the same applies to persons of a morose temper. For perfect friendship, one must get to know a man thoroughly, and become intimate with him, which is a very difficult thing to do. Of the two inferior kinds of friendship, the one that more closely resembles true friendship is that based on pleasure, in which the same benefit is conferred by both parties, and they enjoy each other’s company, or have common tastes; as is the case with the friendships of young people. But there is a different kind of friendship, involving superiority of one party over the other; the friendship between father and son, and between an older person and a younger, and between husband and wife, and between ruler and the ruled.
