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 be presented to me, under no matter what appearance, without my being able at once to find the cause. Our souls drove so uniformly together; they considered each other with so ardent an affection, and with equal affection sounded everything to the very bottom of each other’s innermost parts, that not only did I know his soul as well as my own, but I should certainly have more willingly trusted myself to him than to myself. Let nobody put the other common friendships in this rank; I know as much of them as anybody, and of the most perfect of their kind: but I do not advise anyone to confound the rules; he would be deceived. In these other friendships One must ride bridle in hand, with prudence and precaution; the knot isn’t fastened in such a manner that there is no room for distrust. “Love him,” said Chilon, “as bound some day to hate him; hate him, as bound to love him.” This precept, so abominable in that sovereign and supreme friendship, it is salutary to use in ordinary, customary friendships; in regard to which one must apply the saying that Aristotle so often repeated, “O my friends, there is no friend.” In this noble commerce, duties and benefits, nurses of the other