Laudator Temporis Acti

Cicero, Letters to His Friends 9.24.3 (tr. W. Glynn Williams):

But really, my dear Paetus, joking apart, I advise you to do what, in my opinion, has a direct bearing upon a happy life—to live with men who are good and pleasant fellows, and fond of you. Life has nothing that fits it better: nothing is more suitable to make one live happily. And I do not urge this on account of the mere gratification to the palate, but on account of the association in life and living which it brings about, and the relaxation of mind which friendly conversation especially induces. This appears in its pleasantest form at convivial gatherings, so that we Romans judge more wisely than the Greeks, in that, while they call them συμπόσια, or σύνδειπνα, 'drinkings together,' or 'dinings together,' we call them 'convivial gatherings ' (that is, 'livings together'), because then only do we really live with one another.

sed mehercule, mi Paete, extra iocum moneo te, quod pertinere ad beate vivendum arbitror, ut cum viris bonis, iucundis, amantibus tui vivas: nihil est aptius vitae, nihil ad beate vivendum accommodatius. nec id ad voluptatem refero, sed ad communitatem vitae atque victus remissionemque animorum, quae maxime sermone efficitur familiari, qui est in conviviis dulcissimus, ut sapientius nostri quam Graeci: illi συμπόσια aut σύνδειπνα, id est conpotationes aut concenationes, nos 'convivia' quod tum maxime simul vivitur.