Kitap 1
Be miserable that you may be blest.
Shall I complain, or shall I warn you most?
Faith, truth, and friendship, in the world are lost;
A little and an empty name they boast.
840
Trust not thy friend, much less thy mistress praise;
If he believe, thou man'st a rival raise.
'Tis true, Patroclus, by no lust misled,
Sought not to stain his dear companion's bed.Patroclus, son of Menoeceus, and grandson of Actor, who having killed Clytonymus, son of Amphidamus, was banished his country, and came to Phthia, where he remained with Peleus, Achilles's father, his kinmnan. By these means he contracted a strict friendship with Achilles, and accompanied him to the siege of Troy, where he was killed.
Nor Pylades Hermione embrac'd;Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen, who married her cousin-german, Orestes. Pylades was her husband's friend, and therefore he would not offer to corrupt his wife. This king was the son of Strophius king of Phocis.
845
Ev'n Phaedra to Pirithous still was chaste.
But hope not thou, in this vile age to find
Those rare examples of a faithful mind.
The sea shall sooner with sweet honey flow;
Or from the furze pears and apples grow.
850
We sin with gust, we love by fraud to gain,
And find a pleasure in our fellow's pain.
From rival foes you may the fair defend;
But would you ward the blow, beware your friend.
Beware your brother, and your next of kin;
855
But from your bosom friend your care begin.
