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To be a friend to many people, in the way of the perfect

Friendship, is not possible; just as you cannot be in love with

many at once: it is, so to speak, a state of excess which

naturally has but one object; and besides, it is not an easy

thing for one man to be very much pleased with many people at the

same time, nor perhaps to find many really good. Again, a man

needs experience, and to be in habits of close intimacy, which is

very difficult.

But it is possible to please many on the score of advantage and

pleasure: because there are many men of the kind, and the

services may be rendered in a very short time.

Of the two imperfect kinds that which most resembles the perfect

is the Friendship based upon pleasure, in which the same results

accrue from both and they take pleasure in one another or in the

same objects; such as are the Friendships of the young, because a

generous spirit is most found in these. The Friendship because of

advantage is the connecting link of shopkeepers.