Although the focal point of this book is to be the writings concerning friendship of certain prominent Christian writers of the fourth century, their thoughts must be considered against the background of the ideas on the subject formulated and discussed by Greek and Roman writers over a period of more than one thousand years. The outline of this background material must necessarily be brief, concentrating on those theories and expressions concerning friendship which will be referred to and developed later in a Christian context; for more detailed discussions of particular topics the reader must consult those books which provide more elaborate treatments of various aspects of the Classical concept of friendship. But however brief this survey, which aims at pointing out the main developments and continuities in the cultural heritage, must cover not only some of the philosophical theories and the changes in meaning or application of the terms involved (as far as this can be deduced from the available sources), but also the more popular views of the subject as they were handed down, often in the form of proverbs of unknown origin: both these strands are evident in later thought.

To begin with the evidence from Greek literature it must be remembered that in Greek thought the term philia (or philotes in early Greek writings) which is usually translated as friendship, had a far wider extension of meaning and application than our term friendship.