goe further and affirme most truly, That it is a meere[1] and miserable Solitude to want true Frends, without which the World is but a Wildernesse; And even in this sense also of Solitude, whosoever in the Frame of his Nature and Affections is unfit for Frendship, he taketh it of[2] the Beast, and not from Humanity[3].
A principall Fruit of Frendship is the Ease and Discharge of the Fulnesse and Swellings of the Heart, which Passions of all kinds doe cause and induce. We know Diseases of Stoppings and Suffocations are the most dangerous in the body; And it is not much otherwise in the Minde: You may take Sarza[4] to open the Liver; Steele to open the Spleene; Flowers of Sulphur for the Lungs; Castoreum for the Braine; But no Receipt[5] openeth the Heart but a true Frend, To whom you may impart Griefes, Ioyes, Feares, Hopes, Suspicions, Counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the Heart to oppresse it, in a kind of Civill Shrift[6] or Confession.
It is a Strange Thing to observe how high a Rate Great Kings and Monarchs do set upon this Fruit of Frendship, wherof we speake: So great, as[7] they purchase it, many times, at the hazard of their owne Safety and Greatnesse. For Princes, in regard of the distance of their Fortune from that of their Subiects and Servants, cannot gather this Fruit, Except (to make Themselves capable thereof) they raise some Persons to be as it were Companions, and almost Equals to themselves, which many times sorteth to[8] Inconvenience. The Moderne Languages give unto such Persons the Name of Favorites, or Privadoes[9], As if it were Matter of Grace, or Conversation[10]. But the Roman Name attaineth the true Use and Cause thereof, Naming them Participes Curarum[11]; For it is that which tieth the knot. And we see plainly that this hath been done, not by Weake and Passionate[12] Princes onely, but by the Wisest and most
