for a capital crime, he, in accordance with his own conviction, voted
his friendy guilty, but so influenced the minds of his two associates
that they gave their voice for his acquittal.]

incur absolute dishonor. There is a point up to which a concession made
to friendship is venial. But we are not bound to be careless of our own
reputation, nor ought we to regard the esteem of our fellow-citizens as
an instrument of such affairs as devolve upon us,--an esteem which it is
base to conciliate [footnote: Latin, _colligere,_ to collect, or gather
up, one by one, the good-will of each individual citizen.] by flattery
and fawning. Virtue, which has the sincere regard of the people as its
consequence, is by no means to be sacrificed to friendship.

But, to return to Scipio, who was all the time talking about friendship,
he often complained that men exercised greater care about all other
matters; that one could always tell how many goats and sheep he had, but
could not tell how many friends he had; and that men were careful in
selecting their beasts, but were negligent in the choice of friends, and
had nothing like marks and tokens [footnote: Latin, _signa et notas,_
the marks and tokens by which the quality and worth of goats and sheep
were estimated.] by which to determine the fitness of friends.

Firm, steadfast, self-consistent men are to be chosen as friends, and of
this kind of men there is a great dearth. It is very difficult to judge
of character before we have tested it; but we can test it only after
firendship is begun. Thus friendship is prone to outrun judgment, and to
render a fair trial impossible. It is therefore the part of a wise man
to arrest the impulse of kindly feeling, as we check a carriage in its
course, that, as we use only horses that have been tried, so we may
avail ourselves of friendships in which the characters of our friends