第40章

as，indeed，wehaveaccepteditwithregardtoallthedeeperflowandfinerexpressionoffeelingeveninthedomesticrelations:foritseemedpedanticandfutiletoprescriberulesforthis，oreven(thoughwenaturallyadmireandpraiseanynotungracefulexhibitionofintenseandgenuineaffection)todelineateanidealofexcellenceforalltoaimat。Still，thereseemedtobeanimportantsphereofstrictduty——howeverhardtodefine——intherelationsofchildrentoparents，etc。，andeveninthecaseoffriendshipitseemscontrarytocommonsensetorecognisenosuchsphere；asitnotunfrequentlyoccurstoustojudgethatonefriendhasbehavedwronglytoanother，andtospeakasiftherewereaclearlycognisablecodeofbehaviourinsuchrelations。

Perhaps，however，wemaysaythatallclearcasesofwrongconducttowardsfriendscomeunderthegeneralformulaofbreachofunderstanding。Friendsnotunfrequentlymakedefinitepromisesofservice，butweneednotconsiderthese，astheirviolationisprohibitedbyadifferentandclearermoralrule。Butfurther，asallloveisunderstoodtoincludeadesireforthehappinessofitsobject，theprofessionoffriendshipseemstobindonetoseekthishappinesstoanextentproportionatetosuchprofession。Nowcommonbenevolence(cf。ante，§；5)prescribesatleastthatweshouldrendertoothermensuchservicesaswecanrenderwithoutanysacrifice，orwithasacrificesotriflingastobequiteoutofproportiontotheservicerendered。Andsincetheprofessionoffriendshipthoughthetermisusedtoincludeaffectionsofvariousdegreemustimplyagreaterinterestinone’sfriend’shappinessthaninthatofmeningeneral，itmustannounceawillingnesstomakemoreorlessconsiderablesacrificesforhim，ifoccasionoffers。Ifthenwedeclinetomakesuchsacrifices，wedowrongbyfailingtofulfilnaturalandlegitimateexpectations。SofarthereseemsnosourceofdifficultyexcepttheindefinitenessinevitablyarisingfromthewiderangeofmeaningscoveredbythetermFriendship。Butfurtherquestionsariseinconsequenceofthechangesoffeelingtowhichhumannatureisliable:first，whetheritisourdutytoresistsuchchangesasmuchaswecan；andsecondly，whetherifthiseffortfails，andlovediminishesordeparts，weoughtstilltomaintainadispositiontorenderservicescorrespondingtoourpastaffection。Andonthesepointstheredoesnotseemtobeagreementamongmoralandrefinedpersons。For，ontheonehand，itisnaturaltoustoadmirefidelityinfriendshipandstabilityofaffections，andwecommonlyregardtheseasmostimportantexcellencesofcharacter:andsoitseemsstrangeifwearenottoaimattheseasatallotherexcellences，asnonemorenaturallystirustoimitation。Andhencemanywouldbepreparedtolaydownthatweoughtnottowithdrawaffectiononcegiven，unlessthefriendbehavesill:whilesomewouldsaythateveninthiscaseweoughtnottobreakthefriendshipunlessthecrimeisverygreat。Yet，ontheotherhand，wefeelthatsuchaffectionasisproducedbydeliberateeffortofwillisbutapoorsubstituteforthatwhichspringsspontaneously，andmostrefinedpersonswouldrejectsuchaboon:while，again，toconcealthechangeoffeelingseemsinsincereandhypocritical。

Butasforservices，arefinedpersonwouldnotacceptsuchfromaformerfriendwhonolongerloveshim:unlessinextremeneed，whenanykindoftieis，asitwere，invigoratedbythealreadystrongclaimwhichcommonhumanitygiveseachmanuponallothers。Perhaps，therefore，therecannotbeadutytooffersuchservicesinanycase，whentheneedisnotextreme。Thoughthisinferenceisnotquiteclear:forinrelationsofaffectionweoftenpraiseonepartyforofferingwhatweratherblametheotherforaccepting。Butitseemsthatdelicatequestionsofthiskindaremorenaturallyreferredtocanonsofgoodtasteandrefinedfeelingthanofmoralityproper:oratleastonlyincludedinthescopeofmoralityinsofaraswehaveageneraldutytocultivategoodtasteandrefinementoffeeling，likeotherexcellences。

Onthewhole，then，wemaysaythatthechiefdifficultiesindeterminingthemoralobligationsoffriendshiparise(1)fromtheindefinitenessofthetacitunderstandingimpliedintherelation，and(2)fromthedisagreementwhichwefindastotheextenttowhichFideli