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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: 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
Lysis |
