Does it not follow, then, that, as for lovers the sight of the beloved is the thing they love most, and they prefer this sense to the others because on it love depends most for its being and for its origin, so for friends the most desirable thing is living together?
Recalling that there is a gear that fits together ordinary friendship with political friendship, 'living together' can mean several different things: in the same home, possibly, but also in the same building, the same block of apartments, the same town, the same city. Generally our situation comedies have groups of friends who may technically have separate homes, but are usually displayed in one or a few common places: one friend's living room, a local cafe they share, a restaurant.
For friendship is a partnership, and as a man is to himself, so is he to his friend; now in his own case the consciousness of his being is desirable, and so therefore is the consciousness of his friend's being, and the activity of this consciousness is produced when they live together, so that it is natural that they aim at this. And whatever existence means for each class of men, whatever it is for whose sake they value life, in that they wish to occupy themselves with their friends; and so some drink together, others dice together, others join in athletic exercises and hunting, or in the study of philosophy, each class spending their days together in whatever they love most in life; for since they wish to live with their friends, they do and share in those things which give them the sense of living together.
I have found that friends who study philosophy together often also drink together; that activity has been linked with philosophical discussion at least since Plato's Symposium ("wine party").
Thus the friendship of bad men turns out an evil thing (for because of their instability they unite in bad pursuits, and besides they become evil by becoming like each other), while the friendship of good men is good, being augmented by their companionship; and they are thought to become better too by their activities and by improving each other; for from each other they take the mould of the characteristics they approve-whence the saying 'noble deeds from noble men'.
Friendship as an ideal improves the virtue of both friends, for they spend their time doing good things that build the good habits that are a virtuous character. We have the saying that 'iron sharpens iron' (Prov. 27:17), which also puts this in the context of a friendship.
There is a final warning that bad men make bad friends, not just because you have to be around a bad person but because it is likely to cause you to develop bad habits -- and, eventually, a bad character. You can 'do virtue together' or you can 'do vice together' just as readily. It is a significant question whom you choose to befriend.
So much, then, for friendship; our next task must be to discuss pleasure.
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