Consolation of Philosophy, Book 3, Prose passage 2
http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/boethius/jkok/3p2_t.htm
Search for “amicorum” to find the exact sentence.
Context: the Lady Philosophia critiques the kinds of goods that humans strive for.
In his igitur ceterisque talibus humanorum actuum uotorumque uersatur intentio ueluti nobilitas fauorque popularis, quae uidentur quandam claritudinem comparare, uxor ac liberi, quae iucunditatis gratia petuntur; amicorum uero quod sanctissimum quidem genus est non in fortuna sed in uirtute numeratur, reliquum uero uel potentiae causa uel delectationis assumitur.
Translation: In these matters, and in others like them, human desire is involved; social distinction and popularity seem to afford a certain renown; for the sake of pleasure wife and children are sought; having good friends however is the most revered kind of good, for it seems an affair not of good luck, but of the exellence of the man who has them.
This is the passage that bothers me:
amicorum vero quod sanctissimum quidem genus est;
amicorum . . . genus: the idea seems to be that there are different kinds of goods, and that one of these kinds of goods is the good of having friends.