(_Ibid._) [Sidenote: _To Licinius_] “Long at our leisure yesterday Idling, Licinius, we wrote Upon my tablets verses gay, Or took our turns, as fancy smote, At rhymes and dice and wine. But when I left, Licinius mine, Your grace and your facetious mood Had fired me so, that neither food Would stay my misery, nor sleep My roving eyes in quiet keep. But still consumed, without respite, I tossed about my couch in vain And longed for day—if speak I might, Or be with you again. But when my limbs with all the strain Worn out, half dead lay on my bed, Sweet friend to thee this verse I penned, That so thou mayest condescend To understand my pain. So now, Licinius, beware! And be not rash, but to my prayer A gracious hearing tender; Lest on thy head pounce Nemesis: A goddess sudden and swift she is— Beware lest thou offend her!” [Sidenote: _Martial to Diadumenos_] The following little poem is taken from Martial: “As a vineyard breathes, whose boughs with grapes are bending, Or garden where are hived Sicanian bees; As upturned clods when summer rain’s descending Or orchards rich with blossom-laden trees; So, cruel youth, thy kisses breathe—so sweet— Would’st thou but grant me all their grace, complete!” IV. _Friendship in Early Christian & Mediæval Times_ _Friendship in Early Christian & Mediæval Times_ The quotations we have given from Plato and others show the very high ideal of friendship which obtained in the old world, and the respect accorded to it. With the incoming of the Christian centuries, and the growth of Alexandrian and Germanic influences, a change began to take place. Woman rose to greater freedom and dignity and influence than before. The romance of love began to centre round her.[7] The days of chivalry brought a new devotion into the world, and the Church exalted the Virgin Mother to the highest place in heaven. Friendship between men ceased to be regarded in the old light—_i.e._, as a thing of deep feeling, and an important social institution. It was even, here and there, looked on with disfavour—and lapses from the purity or chastity of its standard were readily suspected and violently reprobated. Certainly it survived in the monastic life for a long period; but though inspiring this to a great extent, its influence was not generally acknowledged. The Family, in the modern and more limited sense of the word (as opposed to the clan), became the recognised unit of social life, and the ideal centre of all good influences (as illustrated in the worship of the Holy Family). At the same time, by this very shrinkage of the Family, as well as by other influences, the solidarity of society became to some extent weakened, and gradually the more communistic forms of the early world gave place to the individualism of the commercial period.