Ciceros De Amicitia Essay -- Friendship Death Love Essays

Ciceros De AmicitiaCiceros De Amicitia brings a unique perspective to the topic of association and how it relates to death. The intelligence agency amicitia comes from the Latin root word amor which is translated to mean love. In this twenty-four hour period and age the word companionship has taken on a just about different meaning from the ancient meaning. Ciceros De Amicitia seeks to define what friendship is, its characteristics and principles. He has challenged us to reconsider what constitutes a veritable friend.Upon observing a distinctive friendship it becomes clear to us that this relationship is actually devoid of current love the love in which Cicero speaks of. A genuine friendship is a rare and beautiful thing a mutual relationship organise between two virtuous people of the same sex in which both individuals love the other as much if not to a greater extent than themselves. In the face of a consecutive friend a military personnel sees as it were a second self. To love another person as much as you love yourself, to give without the expectation of receiving something in damages is indeed an amazing concept. It is some durations hard to comprehend its existence in this world where friendship is more for utility serve for particular ends - wealth for use, power for securing homage, office for reputation, pleasure for enjoyment, health for freedom from pain and the broad(a) use of the functions of the body. But friendship embraces innumerable advantages. The structural foundation upon which a friendship is built is a key determining factor concerning the quality, carriage and longevity of a friendship. When this foundation is weak and built on the self-centered desires of those individuals, that friendship is ultimately put to the test. A utility based friendship is impermanent giving way to the changing circumstances it faces over time as Cicero stated For if it were true that its material advantages cemented friendship, it would be equall y true that any change in them would dissolve it. It does not have the qualities to survive and will fail to thrive in the face of such trials and tribulations as conflicting interest differences of opinion in politics frequent changes in character, owing sometimes to misfortunes, sometimes to advancing years. In this type of friendship the individual takes pleasure in each others corporation only in so far they have hopes of gaining an advantage from it. For Cicero, true friendship can only be achie... ...h act. I am given over to think, therefore, that in his case mourning would be a sign of envy rather than of friendship. If, however, the truth rather is that the body and sense perish together, and that no sensation remains, then though there is nothing good in death, at least there is nothing bad. This statement shows a accredited level of jealousy for you envy the freedom your friend has now achieved in death whereas you are still encased in your human form, your soul tra pped and yearning for knowledge and wisdom. Feelings of joy would wash over the live on friend if indeed their friendship were true. Feeling joyful that this person he has loved with all his heart and soul has moved on to a beautiful place, free from the human condition. Reading Ciceros work has helped authorize that which I have always felt to be true not just of friendship but of death. I conclude with a theodolite in which Cicero touches on the purpose of forming friendships For it is not so much what maven gets by a friend that gives one pleasure, as the warmth of his feeling. adept day I hope to understand through first put across experience rather than just through speculation and dissection of Ciceros writing.