Book 7
8
If, therefore, of the pair of corresponding seriese.g. the Pythagorean pair of series, One, Good, etc. opposed to Many, Bad, etc. (Solomon). The Determined (opposed to the Indeterminate ) belonged to the desirable series. of this kind one is always in the class of the desirable, and the known and the perceived are generally speaking constituted by their participation in the determined nature, so that to wish to perceive oneself is to wish oneself to be of a certain character,—since, then, we are not each of these things in ourselves but only by participating in these faculties in the process of perceiving or knowing (for when perceiving one becomes perceived by means of what one previously perceives,i.e. perception of something outside oneself causes consciousness of self. in the manner and in the respect in which one perceives it, and when knowing one becomes known)—hence owing to this one wishes always to live because one wishes always to know; and this is because one wishes to be oneself the object known.
9
To choose to live in the society of others might, therefore, from a certain point of view seem foolish (first in the case of the things common to the other animals also, for instance eating together or drinking together, for what difference does it make whether these things take place when we are near together or apart, if you take away speech? but even to share in speech that is merely casual is a thing indifferent, and also neither to impart nor to receive information is possible for friends who are self-sufficing, since receiving information implies a deficiency in oneself and imparting it a deficiency in one’s friend, and likeness is friendship)—
10
but nevertheless it surely seems that we all find it pleasanter to share good things with our friends,as far as these fall to each, and the best that each can—
