Page:Plutarch - Moralia, translator Holland, 1911.djvu/334

312 common to all, and exposed or offered to every one that cometh, which no doubt cannot chuse but bring many passions with it into the heart, among which, to be disquieted for a friend, to condole or grieve with him, to enter into troubles, and to plunge oneself into perils for his sake, are not very easy matters to be borne by those that carry an ingenuous mind with them, and be kind-hearted; but the saying of wise Chilon, a professor of philosophy, is most true, who answering unto a man that vaunted how he had not an enemy; It should seem then (quoth he) that thou hast never a friend; for certainly enmities ensue presently upon amities, nay, they are both interlaced together; neither is it the part of a friend not to feel the injuries done unto a friend, nor to participate with him in all ignominies, hatred and quarrels that he incurreth; and one enemy evermore will be sure to suspect the friend of another, yea, and be ready to malice him; as for friends, oftentimes they envy their own friends, they have them in jealousy, and traduce them every way. The oracle answered unto Timesias when he consulted about the planting and peopling of a new colony in this wise:

Semblably they that seek after a bee-hive (as it were) of friends, light ere they be aware upon a wasps' nest of enemies: where there is a great odds and difference even in this, that the revenging remembrance of an enemy for wrong done over-weigheth much the thankful memory of a friend for a benefit received: and whether this be true or no, consider in what manner Alexander the Great entreated the friends of Philotas and Parmenio; how Dionysius the Tyrant used the familiars of Dion; after what sort Nero the emperor dealt by the acquaintance of Plautus; or Tiberius Caesar by the well-willers of Sejanus, whom they caused all to be racked, tortured and put to death in the end. And like as the costly jewels of gold, and the rich apparel of King Creon's daughter, served him in no stead at all, but the fire that took hold thereof, flaming light out suddenly, burned him when he ran unto her to take her in his arms, and so consumed father and daughter together; even so you shall have some, who having never received any benefit at all by the prosperity of their friends, are entangled notwithstanding in their calamities, and perish together with them for company; a thing that ordinarily and most of all they are subject unto, who be men of profession, great clerks and honourable personages.