And therefore Cleomedes had great reason to say, “Take away the pleasures of the table, where we open ourselves so agreeably to each other, and you rob us of the sweetest cordial of human life[2].” This was also the sentiment of Cicero, in his Book of old Age; of Aristotle, in his Ethics; and Plutarch, in his Questions. Let who will, then, look on trencher friends to be false, and say with those of whom Ovid makes mention,
Dum fueris felix multos numerabis amicos,
Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris.[2a]
In happy times, while riches round you flow,
A thousand friends their obligations own,
But when loud adverse winds begin to blow,
And darksome clouds appear, you’re left alone.
Daily experience teaches us, that one of the best means to push one’s fortune, is often to regale with those who are in credit; for, to one that may have ruined himself by so doing, ten have made their fortunes. We may therefore say of entertainments, that,
Hæc res et jungit, et junctos servat amicos.[2b]
These unite friends, and strictly keep them so.