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Why is it that people today have such difficulty finding friends?

Men do not possess the brotherhoods they once had.

Women are plagued with the bite of loneliness,

and children no longer fill the streets with their

laughter. Friendship is something that needs to be recovered and cultivated.

The philosopher Cicero and the philosopher Aristotle both shared a Pythagrian philosophy of friendship,

which placed such value on friendship that every man should strive to have a friend closer than a brother.

Both philosophers reference a famous story from the Greeks to communicate the standards of friendship.

Dionysius was a terrible and cruel king.

The ruler was feared by both enemies without and subjects within.

When tyrants reign fear abounds, but not just from the tyrants subjects.

The tyrant himself has much to fear, and his fears were justified.

He was hated by the people.

Paranoia often kept Dionysius awake at night.

Often, fitful sleep and vivid dreams

would be his companions in the dark of night.

It is reported that Dionysius would execute men simply because of dreams of assassinations.

One day Dionysius noticed two men that were unfamiliar to him.

When the king inquired about these suspicious men, he was told they were two friends named Damon and Pythias.

He was also told that Pythias had made speeches asserting that tyrannical kings should be overthrown.

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