deny that great good may result
from such attachments, for the mind may be drawn out and the character
enlarged by them; yet we feel also that they are attended with many
dangers, and that this Romance of Heavenly Love requires a strength, a
freedom from passion, a self-control, which, in youth especially, are
rarely to be found. The propriety of such friendships must be estimated
a good deal by the manner in which public opinion regards them; they
must be reconciled with the ordinary duties of life; and they must be
justified by the result.

Yet another question, 10). Admitting that friendships cannot be always
permanent, we may ask when and upon what conditions should they be
dissolved. It would be futile to retain the name when the reality has
ceased to be. That two friends should part company whenever the relation
between them begins to drag may be better for both of them. But then
arises the consideration, how should these friends in youth or friends
of the past regard or be regarded by one another? They are parted, but
there still remain duties mutually owing by them. They will not
admit the world to share in their difference any more than in their
friendship; the memory of an old attachment, like the memory of the
dead, has a kind of sacredness for them on which they will not allow
others to intrude. Neither, if they were ever worthy to bear the name
of friends, will either of them entertain any enmity or dislike of the
other who was once so much to him. Neither will he by 'shadowed hint
reveal' the secrets great or small which an unfortunate mistake has
placed within his reach. He who is of a noble mind will dwell upon his
own faults rather than those of another, and will be ready to take upon
himself the blame of their separation. He will feel pain at the loss of
a friend; and he will remember with gratitude his ancient kindness.
But he will not lightly renew a tie which has not been lightly
broken...These are a few of the Problems of Friendship, some of them
suggested by the Lysis, others by modern life, which he who wishes to
make or keep a friend may profitably study. (Compare Bacon, Essay on
Friendship; Cic. de Amicitia.)

LYSIS, OR FRIENDSHIP

PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE:

Socrates, who is the narrator, Menexenus, Hippothales, Lysis, Ctesippus.

SCENE: A newly-erected Palaestra outside the walls of Athens.

I was going from the Academy straight to the Lyceum, intending to
take the outer r