MONTAIGNE
he is my son, he is my kinsman, but he is a savage person, a rascal, or a fool. And besides, in so far as these are friendships which law and natural obligation impose on us, they are so much the less of our own choice and free will; and our free will has no product more punctually its own than affection and friendship. It isn’t that I have not experienced in this direction all that can be found there, having had the best father that ever was, and the most indulgent even till his extreme old age; and being of a family famous from father to son, and exemplary, in this relation of brotherly concord:—
Et ipse
Notus in fratres animi paterni.
(And myself noted for my fatherly feeling toward my brothers)
One cannot compare to this our affection toward women, although that does spring from our own choice, nor can one put that into this rôle. Its flame, I confess it,—
Neque enim est dea nescia nostri,
Qua dulcem curis miscat amaritiam,—
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