The Man in the Panther Skin (Shota Rustaveli, The Man in the Panther Skin, Text and Versions, Edited by Akaki Shanidze and Alexandre Baramidze, Tbilisi, 1966)

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Author	Shota Rustaveli
Epoch	XII-XIII
Work	The Man in the Panther Skin (Shota Rustaveli, The Man in the Panther Skin, Text and Versions, Edited by Akaki Shanidze and Alexandre Baramidze, Tbilisi, 1966)
Type	Poetry
Quote	“There are three ways by which a friend can express his friendship: The first is the desire [of a friend] to be beside [his friend], and the inability to be far away [from him], [The second way is the readiness of a friend] to give [away everything to his friend] - excluding any [form of the] envy - [and] not to be bored to give gifts, [The third way is] providing help and aid, [and] running (i.e. roaming, wandering) the fields (i.e. abandoning his own life) for his [friend’s] benefit.” (Stanza 779)
Term	Friendship ( Aristotle , “Nicomachean Ethics” )

Nike. Vani. II-I BC, Bronze, 22 x19 cm. The Georgian National Museum.

Comment	The philosophy of friendship, expounded and demonstrated by Aristotle in Books 8^th and 9^th of “Nicomachean Ethics”, is depicted by Rustaveli poetically, only in one quatrain (779) through the protagonist of his poem – Avtandili, but with maximum precision. More specifically, according to Avtandili, there are three ways by which a friend can express his friendship (779, 1): the first is the desire of a friend to be beside his friend, and the inability to be far away from him (779, 2). The corresponding Aristotelian utterance is τὸ συζῆν, “living together” (NE, 1157b); [The second way is] readiness of a friend, as Rustaveli states, to give away everything to his friend, which excludes any form of envy (779, 3). This closely resembles the Aristotelian χαίρειν ἀλλήλοις, “to delight in each other” (NE, 1158a). [The third way is] providing help and aid for his friend’s benefit (779, 4), which corresponds to Aristotle’s τὸν βουλόμενον καὶ πράττοντα τἀγαθὰ, - “who wishes and does what is good” (NE, 1166a). In “Nicomachean Ethics”, Book 8^th, Chapter 5^th, Aristotle mentions again the three signs of friendship, but this time all of them are given together and what I believe is the most important, they are given in the same order as in Rustaveli’s poem. In particular, according to Aristotle, true friends are those who live together, delight in each other and confer benefits on each other: [...] οἱ μὲν γὰρ συζῶντες χαίρουσιν ἀλλήλοις καὶ πορίζουσι τἀγαθά [...] (NE, 1157b). In addition, according to both Aristotle and Rustaveli, love is the foundation of friendship, which begins with “liking” each other (see E. Khintibidze, The World View Of Rustaveli’s “Vepkhistqaosani” (“The Man in the Panther Skin”), Tbilisi, 2009 - in Georgian, pg. 574-578; see in details ibid. pg. 565-581). [Z.Kh.]

Comment

The philosophy of friendship, expounded and demonstrated by Aristotle in Books 8^th and 9^th of “Nicomachean Ethics”, is depicted by Rustaveli poetically, only in one quatrain (779) through the protagonist of his poem – Avtandili, but with maximum precision. More specifically, according to Avtandili, there are three ways by which a friend can express his friendship (779, 1): the first is the desire of a friend to be beside his friend, and the inability to be far away from him (779, 2). The corresponding Aristotelian utterance is τὸ συζῆν, “living together” (NE, 1157b); [The second way is] readiness of a friend, as Rustaveli states, to give away everything to his friend, which excludes any form of envy (779, 3). This closely resembles the Aristotelian χαίρειν ἀλλήλοις, “to delight in each other” (NE, 1158a). [The third way is] providing help and aid for his friend’s benefit (779, 4), which corresponds to Aristotle’s τὸν βουλόμενον καὶ πράττοντα τἀγαθὰ, - “who wishes and does what is good” (NE, 1166a). In “Nicomachean Ethics”, Book 8^th, Chapter 5^th, Aristotle mentions again the three signs of friendship, but this time all of them are given together and what I believe is the most important, they are given in the same order as in Rustaveli’s poem. In particular, according to Aristotle, true friends are those who live together, delight in each other and confer benefits on each other: [...] οἱ μὲν γὰρ συζῶντες χαίρουσιν ἀλλήλοις καὶ πορίζουσι τἀγαθά [...] (NE, 1157b). In addition, according to both Aristotle and Rustaveli, love is the foundation of friendship, which begins with “liking” each other (see E. Khintibidze, The World View Of Rustaveli’s “Vepkhistqaosani” (“The Man in the Panther Skin”), Tbilisi, 2009 - in Georgian, pg. 574-578; see in details ibid. pg. 565-581). [Z.Kh.]

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