In what work of Aristotle did he say that marriage is the most important kind of friendship?

Please I need it for my thesis!In what work of Aristotle did he say that marriage is the most important kind of friendship?
I don't think that Aristotle said that marriage is the most important kind of friendship. But he did imply that happy marriages are perfect examples of friendship --- because the essence of friendship, according to Aristotle, is ';living together'; and ';doing good'; to our friends, for their benefit, as well as our own.





Read the Nichomachean Ethics, Bk. VIII and IX, where Aristotle talks about all the kinds of friendships, based on utility, pleasure and, alternatively, respect for the virtues of ones' friends. In both the Politics and the Ethics Aristotle talks about ';authority'; and who rules a household, mentioning that the rule between a husband and wife, is a Constitutional Rule, where each rules and is ruled, in turn. But if you are an overly sensitive feminist, you probably will not like Aristotle's arguable ';sexism';.





However if you understand what Aristotle means by Constitutional Rule, you'll understand that he is talking about ';Rule or Authority'; exercized, primarily, for the benefit of those who are being ruled.





And when he compares what appears to be a ';sexist'; authority of ';the male'; over ';the female'; (primarily for his wife's benefit and the benefit of their children), as Constitutional Rule --- which literally means ruling in some matters and being ruled in other matters --- then you should understand that he is talking about the wife ';ruling'; the husband on those matters where she is the natural expert and has ';authority'; or ';virtue'; which is the only kind of ';authority'; that Aristotle truly recognizes as authoritative.





So, if the essence of friendship is ';living together'; and being of mutual benefit to each other as friends, then it is entirely arguable that a good marriage is the best example of true friendship that there can be.





ADDENDUM:


Aristotle: In being loved, on the other hand, people delight for its own sake; whence it would seem to be better than being honoured and friendship to be desireable in itself. But it (friendship KB) seems to lie in loving, rather than in being loved, as is indicated by the delight mothers take in loving; for some mothers hand over their children to be brought up, and so long as they know their fate they love them and do not seek to be loved in return (if they cannot HAVE BOTH; Aristotle's brackets), but seem to be satisfied if they see them prospering; and they themselves love their children even if these (their kids KB), owing to their ignorance give them nothing of a mother's due.





Now, since friendship depends more on loving, and it is those who love their friends that are praised, loving seems to be the characteristic virtue of friends, so that it is only in those in whom this (virtue of loving KB) is found in due measure, that are lasting friends, and only their friendship that endures. [Nichomachean Ethics; Book VIII; Ch. 8., 1159a lines 22 through 36; approximately.]





Sounds like a happy marriage is a ';friendship which endures';, between 2 persons who love more than, or as much as, the other person loves them.





FURTHER ADDENDUM:





The below seems closer to what you are looking for in your thesis, quote:





Aristotle: Between man and wife friendship seems to exist by nature; for man is naturally inclined to form couples --- even more than to form cities, inasmuch as the household is earlier and more necessary than the city, and reproduction is more common to man with the animals.





With the other animals the union extends only to this point (reproduction KB), but human beings live together not only for the sake of reproduction, but also for the various purposes of life; for from the start the functions are divided, and those of man and woman are different; so they help each other by throwing their peculiar gifts into the common stock. It is for these reasons that both utility and pleasure seem to be found in this kind of friendship.





But this friendship may be based also on virtue, if the parties are good; for each has its own virtue and they will delight in the fact. And children seem to be a bond of union (which is the reason why childless people part more easily); for children are a good common to both and what is common holds them together.





How a man and wife and in general friend and friend ought mutually to behave seems to be the same question as how it is just for them to behave; for a man does not seem to have the same duties to a friend, a stranger, a comrade and a school fellow.





[N.E. Bk. VIII; Ch. 12. 1162a lines 14 - 31 approx.]