Vatican Saying 23
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Translation
Analysis
This Saying posits the seemingly paradoxical Epicurean belief regarding friendship: every friendship is worth choosing for its own sake, without any hopes of benefitting from it; nevertheless, it always began with precisely some such hope of benefit.
Although this quiestionable view is left pending, as if truncated, in this particular Saying, the subject of properly evaluating friendship comes up again in Vatican Saying 28, Vatican Saying 34, Vatican Saying 39. Friendship in general is discussed in various other Sayings, culminating in the valedictory statement of Vatican Saying 52.