De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream

A conversational treatise opens with a bereaved friend reflecting on the nature and duties of friendship, defining true friendship as a bond among the good, considering its origins, practical benefits, proper limits, tests for choosing companions, obligations across social differences, and the threats posed by flattery and self-interest, while insisting on candid truthfulness between friends. A linked visionary dialogue describes a dream encounter that reveals an ordered cosmos, the music of the spheres, the five climatic zones, the transience of earthly fame, the immortality of the soul, and the moral training required to attain a blessed afterlife.