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."

XIV.

Again said Ioasaph, "The Lord God prosper thee, O thou Wisest of men!
For thou hast gladdened my soul with thine apt and excellent sayings.
Wherefore sketch me yet another picture of the vanity of the world, and
how a man may pass through it in peace and safety."

Barlaam took up his parable and said, "Hear then a similitude of this
matter too. I once heard tell of a great city whose citizens had, from
old time, the custom of taking some foreigner and stranger, who knew
nothing of their laws and traditions, and of making him their king, to
enjoy absolute power, and follow his own will and pleasure without
hindrance, until the completion of a year. Then suddenly, while he was
living with never a care i