What is true friendship? That is the question Cicero sought to answer in this, one of his most famous dialogues. The great Roman statesman and philosopher argues that without virtue, as defined by the Greeks, friendship is a mere mask for self interest. Cicero completed this dramatised treatise in 44 BC, which he set in 129 BC, in the period following the death of Scipio Aemilianus. The speakers are Scipio's friend Laelius, and his two sons-in-law, Fannius and Scaevola, the latter of whom taught law to Cicero himself. This edition presents simultaneously a free and a literal translation. In addition, Cicero’s original Latin is interlined with the English, making this work not only valuable for its intrinsic message, but also for the vivid insight it gives into one of the greatest languages to have been devised by the human mind. With this book, even if you know little or no Latin, you will be able to read and understand the very words Cicero wrote over two thousand years ago.