Section 6: Friendship and being of one mind

Being of one mind also seems to be characteristic of friendship. For this reason, being of one mind is not simply sharing the same opinion, since that might occur even with people who do not know each other. Nor do we say that people who have the same views on any and every subject are of one mind; for example, those who agree about the stars and planets (for being of one mind about these is not a friendly relation), but we do say that a city is of one mind when people have the same opinion about what is to their interest, and choose the same actions, and do what they have resolved in common.

It is about things to be done, therefore, that people are said to be of one mind. And, among thing to me done, being of one mind is about matters of consequence and in which it is possible for both or all parties to get what they want. For example, a city is of one mind when all its citizens think that the offices in it should be elective, or that they should form an alliance with Sparta, or that Pittacus should be their ruler–at a time when he himself was also willing to rule. But when each of two people wishes himself to have the thing in question, like the captains in the Phoenissae, they are in a state of faction. For being of one mind is not when each of two parties thinks of the same thing, whatever that may be, but only when they think of the same thing in the same hands; for example, when both the common people and those of the better class wish the best people to rule; for in this way and in this way alone do all get what they aim at. Being of one mind, then, seems to be political friendship, as indeed it is commonly said to be. For it is concerned with things that are to our interest and have an influence on our life.

Now being of one mind is found among good people, for they are of one mind both in themselves and with one another, being, so to say, in agreement (for the wishes of good people are constant and not at the mercy of opposing currents like a strait of the sea), and they wish for what is just and what is advantageous, and these are the objects of their common endeavor as well.

But bad men cannot be of one mind, except to a small extent, any more than they can be friends, since they aim at getting more than their share of advantages, while in labor and public service they fall short of their share. And each wishing for advantage to himself criticizes his neighbor and stands in his way. For if people do not watch it carefully the common weal is soon destroyed. The result is that they are in a state of faction, putting compulsion on each other but unwilling themselves to do what is just.