e. The
natural man may be self-absorbed and self-centred, but in a truer sense
it is natural for him to give up self and link his life on to others.
Hence the joy with which he makes the great discovery, that he is
something to another and another is everything to him. It is the
higher-natural for which he has hitherto existed. It is a miracle, but
it happens.

The cynic may speak of the now obsolete sentiment of friendship, and he
can find much to justify his cynicism. Indeed, on the first blush, if
we look at the relative place the subject holds in ancient as compared
with modern literature, we might say that friendship is a sentiment
that is rapidly becoming obsolete. In Pagan writers friendship takes a
much larger place than it now receives. The subject bulks largely in
the works of Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Cicero. And among modern
writers it gets most importance in the writings of the more
Pagan-spirited, such as Montaigne. In all the ancient systems of
philosophy, friendship was treated as an integral part of the system.
To the Stoic it was a blessed occasion for the display of nobility and
the native virtues of the human mind. To the Epicurean it was the most
refined of the pleasures which made life worth living. In the
Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle makes it the culminating point, and out
of ten books gives two to the discussion of Friendship. He makes it
even the link of connection between his treatise on Ethics and his
companion treatise on Politics. It is to him both the perfection of
the individual life, and the bond that holds states together.
Friendship is not only a beautiful and noble thing for a man, but the
realization of it is also the ideal for the state; for if citizens be
friends, then justice, which is the great concern of all organized
societies, is more than secured. Friendship is thus made the flower of
Ethics, and the root of Politics.

Plato also makes friendship the ideal of the state, where all have
common interests and mutual confidence. And apart from its place of
prominence in systems of thought, perhaps a finer list of beautiful
sayings about friendship could be culled from ancient writers than from
modern. Classical mythology also is full of instances of great
friendship, which almost assumed the place of a religion itself.

It is not easy to explain why its part in Christian ethics is so small
in comparison. The change is due to an enlarging of the thought and
l