Ioasaph received this parable with great joy and said, "How true this
story is, and most apt! Grudge not, then, to shew me other such like
figures, that I may know for certain what the manner of our life is,
and what it hath in store for its friends."
The elder answered, "Again, those who are enamoured of the pleasures of
life, and glamoured by the sweetness thereof, who prefer fleeting and
paltry objects to those which are future and stable, are like a certain
man who had three friends. On the first two of these he was
extravagantly lavish of his honours, and clave passionately to their
love, fighting to the death and deliberately hazarding his life for
their sakes. But to the third he bore himself right arrogantly, never
once granting him the honour nor the love that was his due, but only
making show of some slight and inconsiderable regard for him. Now one
day he was apprehended by certain dread and strange soldiers, that made
speed to hale him to the king, there to render account for a debt of
ten thousand talents. Being in a great strait, this debtor sought for
a helper, able to take his part in this terrible reckoning with the
king. So he ran to his first and truest friend of all, and said, 'Thou
wottest, friend, that I ever jeopardied my life for thy sake. Now
to-day I require help in a necessity that presseth me sore. In how
many talents wilt thou undertake to assist me now? What is the hope
that I may count upon at thy hands, O my dearest friend?' The other
answered and said unto him, 'Man, I am not thy friend: I know not who
thou art. Other friends I have, with whom I must needs make merry
to-day, and so win their friendship for the time to come. But, see, I
present thee with two ragged garments, that thou mayest have them on
the way whereon thou goest, though they will do thee no manner of good.
Further help from me thou mayest expect none.' The other, hearing
this, despaired of the succour whereon he had reckoned, and went to his
second friend, saying, 'Friend, thou rememberest how much honour and
kindness thou hast enjoyed at my hands. To-day I have fallen into
tribulation and sorrow, and need a helping hand. To what extent then
canst thou share my labour? Tell me at once.' Said he, 'I have on
leisure today to share thy troubles. I too have fallen among cares and
perils, and am myself in tribulation. Howbeit, I will go a little way
with thee, even if I shall fail to be of service to thee. Then will I
turn quickly homeward, and busy myself with mine own anxieties.' So
the man returned from him too empty-handed and baulked at every turn;
and he cried misery on himself for his vain hope in those ungrateful
friends, and the unavailing hardships that he had endured through love
of them. At the last he went away to the third friend, whom he had
never courted, nor invited to share his happiness. With countenance
ashamed and downcast, he said unto him, 'I can scarce open my lips to
speak with thee, knowing full well that I have never done thee service,
or shown thee any kindness that thou mightest now remember. But seeing
that a heavy misfortune hath overtaken me, and that I have found
nowhere among my friends any hope of deliverance, I address myself to
thee, praying thee, if it lie in thy power, to afford me some little
aid. Bear no grudge for my past unkindness, and refuse me not.' The
other with a smiling and gracious countenance answered, 'Assuredly I
own thee my very true friend. I have not forgotten those slight
services of thine: and I will repay them to-day with interest. Fear
not therefore, neither be afraid. I will go before thee and entreat
the king for thee, and will by no means deliver thee into the hands of
thine enemies. Wherefore be of good courage, dear friend, and fret not
thyself.' Then, pricked at heart, the other said with tears, 'Wo is me!
Which shall I first lament, or which first deplore? Condemn my vain
preference for my forgetful, thankless and false friends, or blame the
mad ingratitude that I have shown to thee, the sincere and true?'"
Ioasaph heard this tale also with amazement and asked the
interpretation thereof. Then said Barlaam, "The first friend is the
abundance of riches, and love of money, by reason of which a man
falleth into the midst of ten thousand perils, and endureth many
miseries: but when at last the appointed day of death is come, of all
these things he carrieth away nothing but the useless burial cloths.
By the second friend is signified our wife and children and the remnant
of kinsfolk and acquaintance, to whom we are passionately attached, and
from whom with difficulty we tear ourselves away, neglecting our very
soul and body for the love of them. But no help did man ever derive
from these in the hour of death, save only that they will accompany and
follow him to the sepulchre, and then straightway turning them homeward
again they are occupied with their own cares and matters, and bury his
memory in oblivion as they have buried his body in the grave. But the
third friend, that was altogether neglected and held cheap, whom the
man never approached, but rather shunned and fled in horror, is the
company of good deeds,--faith, hope, charity, alms, kindliness, and the
whole band of virtues, that can go before us, when we quit the body,
and may plead with the Lord on our behalf, and deliver us from our
enemies and dread creditors, who urge that strict rendering of account
in the air, and try bitterly to get the mastery of us. This is the
grateful and true friend, who beareth in mind those small kindnesses
that we have shown him and repayeth the whole with interest."