But there arises on this subject a somewhat difficult question: Whether
ever new friends, if deserving friendship, are to be preferred to old
ones, just as we are wont to prefer young colts to old horses?--a
perplexity unworthy of a man; for there ought to be no satiety of
friendship as of other things: everything which is oldest (as those
wines which bear age well) ought to be sweetest; and that is true which
is sometimes said, "Many bushels of salt must be eaten together," before
the duty of friendship can be fulfilled. But new friendships, if they
afford a hope that, as in the case of plants which never disappoint,
fruits shall appear, such are not to be rejected; yet the old one must
be preserved in its proper place, for the power of age and custom is
exceedingly great; besides, in the very case of the horse, which I just
mentioned, if there is no impediment, there is no one who does not more
pleasurably use that to which he is accustomed than one unbroken and
strange to him; and habit asserts its power, and habit prevails, not
only in the case of this, which is animate, but also in the cases of
those things which are inanimate; since we take delight in the very
mountainous or woody scenery among which we have long dwelt.