§7.5ὅτι μὲν οὖν πλείονες τρόποι φιλίας, καὶ πόσοι τρόποι, ὅτι τρεῖς, καὶ ὅτι τὸ φιλεῖσθαι καὶ ἀντιφιλεῖσθαι καὶ οἱ φί λοι διαφέρουσιν, οἵ τε κατʼ ἰσότητα καὶ οἱ καθʼ ὑπεροχήν, εἴρηται·
Thus, that there are several modes of friendship, and how many modes they are (namely, that they are three), and that being loved, being loved in return, and friends differ, both those in accordance with equality and those in accordance with superiority, has been said.
ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ φίλον λέγεται καὶ καθόλου μᾶλλον, ὥσπερ καὶ κατʼ ἀρχὰς ἐλέχθη, ὑπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν συμπαραλαμβανόντων (οἳ μὲν γὰρ τὸ ὅμοιόν φασιν εἶναι φίλον, οἳ δὲ τὸ ἐναντίον), λεκτέον καὶ περὶ τούτων πῶς εἰσι πρὸς τὰς εἰρημένας φιλίας.
But since "friend" (or "the lovable") is also spoken of in a more general sense, as was also said at the beginning, by those who bring it in from outside (for some say that the like is friend, and others the contrary), we must also speak of these, how they relate to the aforementioned friendships.
ἀνάγεται δὲ τὸ μὲν ὅμοιον καὶ εἰς τὸ ἡδὺ καὶ εἰς τὸ ἀγαθόν.
Now, the like is reduced both to the pleasant and to the good.
τό τε γὰρ ἀγαθὸν ἁπλοῦν, τὸ δὲ κακὸν πολύμορφον· καὶ ὁ ἀγαθὸς μὲν ὅμοιος ἀεὶ καὶ οὐ μεταβάλλεται τὸ ἦθος, ὁ δὲ φαῦλος καὶ ὁ ἄφρων οὐθὲν ἔοικεν ἕωθεν καὶ ἑσπέρας.
For the good is simple, whereas the bad is multiform; and the good person is always like himself and does not change in character, whereas the base and the foolish person is not at all like himself between morning and evening.
διὸ ἐὰν μὴ συμβάλλωσιν οἱ φαῦλοι, οὐ φίλοι ἑαυτοῖς, ἀλλὰ διίστανται· ἡ δʼ οὐ βέβαιος φιλία οὐ φιλία.
Therefore, unless the base hit upon a common interest, they are not friends to themselves, but stand apart; and an unstable friendship is not friendship.
ὥστε οὕτως μὲν τὸ ὅμοιον φίλον, ὅτι τὸ ἀγαθὸν ὅμοιον, ἔστι δὲ ὡς καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἡδύ· τοῖς γὰρ ὁμοίοις ταὔθʼ ἡδέα, καὶ ἕκαστον δὲ φύσει αὐτὸ αὑτῷ ἡδύ.
So that in this way the like is friend because the good is like, but in a way it is also in accordance with the pleasant; for to those who are like, the same things are pleasant, and each thing is by nature pleasant to itself.
διὸ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ αἱ ἕξεις καὶ συνημερεύσεις τοῖς ὁμογενέσιν ἥδισται ἀλλήλοις, καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ζῴοις· καὶ ταύτῃ ἐνδέχεται καὶ τοὺς φαύλους ἀλλήλους φιλεῖν.
Therefore both voices, habits, and ways of spending the day are most pleasant to one another for those of the same kind, and for the other animals; and in this way it is possible even for the base to love one another.
"κακὸς κακῷ δὲ συντέτηκεν ἡδονῇ. "
τὸ δʼ ἐναντίον τῷ ἐναντίῳ φίλον ὡς τὸ χρήσιμον·
"And bad is melted together with bad in pleasure." But the contrary is friend to the contrary as the useful; for the like is useless to itself.
αὐτὸ γὰρ αὑτῷ τὸ ὅμοιον ἄχρηστον. διὸ δεσπότης δούλου δεῖται καὶ δοῦλος δεσπότου, καὶ γυνὴ καὶ ἀνὴρ ἀλλήλων, καὶ ἡδὺ καὶ ἐπιθυμητὸν τὸ ἐναντίον ὡς χρήσιμον, καὶ οὐχ ὡς ἐν τέλει ἀλλʼ ὡς πρὸς τὸ τέλος.
Therefore the master needs the slave and the slave the master, and wife and husband need each other, and the contrary is pleasant and desired as useful, and not as an end but as towards the end.
ὅταν γὰρ τύχῃ οὗ ἐπιθυμεῖ, ἐν τῷ τέλει μὲν ἐστίν, οὐκ ὀρέγεται δὲ τοῦ ἐναντίου, οἷον τὸ θερμὸν τοῦ ψυχροῦ καὶ τὸ ξηρὸν τοῦ ὑγροῦ.
For when it obtains what it desires, it is in the end, and does not reach out for the contrary, as the hot for the cold and the dry for the wet.
ἔστι δέ πως καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἐναντίου φιλία τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ.
But in a way the friendship of the contrary is also of the good.
ὀρέγεται γὰρ ἀλλήλων διὰ τὸ μέσον· ὡς σύμβολα γὰρ ὀρέγεται ἀλλήλων διὰ τὸ οὕτω γίνεσθαι ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ἓν μέσον.
For they reach out for each other because of the mean; for they reach out for each other as matching tallies, because in this way one mean comes to be from both.
ἔτι κατὰ συμβεβηκός ἐστι τοῦ ἐναντίου, καθʼ αὑτὸ δὲ τῆς μεσότητος.
Further, it is of the contrary accidentally, but in itself of the mean.
ὀρέγονται γὰρ οὐκ ἀλλήλων τἀναντία, ἀλλὰ τοῦ μέσου.
For opposites do not reach out for each other, but for the mean.
ὑπερψυχθέντες γάρ, ἐὰν θερμανθῶσιν, εἰς τὸ μέσον καθίστανται, καὶ ὑπερθερμανθέντες, ἐὰν ψυχθῶσιν· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων.
For when they are overcooled, if they are warmed, they are established in the mean, and when they are overheated, if they are cooled; and similarly in the case of the others.
εἰ δὲ μή, ἀεὶ ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ, οὐκ ἐν τοῖς μέσοις.
Otherwise, they are always in desire, not in the means.
ἀλλὰ χαίρει ὁ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ ἄνευ ἐπιθυμίας τοῖς φύσει ἡδέσιν, οἳ δὲ πᾶσι τοῖς ἐξιστᾶσι τῆς φύσει ἕξεως.
But the person in the mean rejoices without desire in things pleasant by nature, whereas the others rejoice in everything that removes them from their natural habit.
τοῦτο μὲν οὖν τὸ εἶδος καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀψύχων ἐστίν· τὸ φιλεῖν δὲ γίνεται, ὅταν ᾖ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐμψύχων.
Now this species exists even in the case of inanimate things; but loving comes to be when it is in the case of animate things.
διὸ ἐνίοτε ἀνομοίοις χαίρουσιν, οἷον αὐστηροὶ εὐτραπέλοις καὶ ὀξεῖς ῥαθύμοις.
Therefore they sometimes rejoice in those who are unlike, as the austere in the witty and the quick in the easygoing.
εἰς τὸ μέσον γὰρ καθίστανται ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων.
For they are established in the mean by each other.
κατὰ συμβεβηκὸς οὖν, ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη, τὰ ἐναντία φίλα, καὶ διὰ τὸ ἀγαθόν.
Accidentally, then, as has been said, contraries are friends, and because of the good.