A short digression concerning Friendship

[p. 71] So many sorts of differing Signs disposeMens Tempers, and produce such Crowds of Foes;Look o're the World, see Force and Fraud increase,Rapine in War, and Treachery in Peace;But look for Truth and Faith, the Search were vain,No Mind is Honest, and no Thoughts are plain:What bulky Villanies bestride the Age!What Envy pusheth on Mankind to rage!Envy not to be dispossest, her ThroneIs firmly fixt, and all the World's her own:Friends kill their Friends, a Husband stabs his Wife,Sons sell their Father's and their Mother's Life;Bold Atreus feasts, and at the barbarous sightThe Sun retires, and leaves the World to night.Whilst Brothers poyson, with a smiling FaceThey mix the Cup, and kill where they embrace:

[p. 72] No place is safe, no Temple yields DefenceAgainst secret Stabs, or open Violence;And many a slaughter'd Priest profanely diesOn the same Altar with his Sacrifice.Those most betray who kindness most pretend,And Crowds of Villains skulk behind the Name of Friend.The World's infected, Wrong and Fraud prevails,Whilst Honesty retires, and Justice fails;Nay Laws support those Crimes they checkt before,And Executions now affright no more.For disagreeing Stars that Men produce,Their Tempers fashion, and their own infuse:Hence Peace is lost, pure Faith we seldom find,Kind Leagues are rare, and then but feebly bind;For as the Signs above, so Things belowDo differing Minds and Inclinations show;They form Men's Thoughts, and the obedient ClayTakes disagreeing Tempers from their Ray.

Hence 'tis that Friendship is so thinly sown,It thrives but ill, nor can it last when grown;Rare it's Production: and the World pretendsTo boast but one poor single pair of Friends:One Pylades and one ²⁵Orestes name,And you have all the Instances of Fame;Once Death was strove for, 'twas a generous Strife,Not who should keep, but who should lose a LifeWas their Dispute, contending to denyEach other the great Priviledge to die.The Surety fear'd his guilty Friend's return,The Guilty Friend did his own Absence mourn;Careless of Life, impatient of Delay,He broak thro' hindring Friends that choak'd his Way;And ran to Danger: Here they disagreed,One hop'd to free, One fear'd to be so freed.

[p. 73] But now if you would know what Signs disposeTo Leagues, and Peace, and friendly Thoughts disclose;The Ram's bright Births you may securely joynAs Friends to the Productions of his Trine;But the Ram's Births are more sincerely plain,They give more Love than they receive againFrom thine fierce Leo, or than his can showThat strides thro' Heaven, and draws the Cretan Bow:For 'tis a Sign of thoughtless Innocence,Expos'd to Harms, unpractis'd in Defence;Unus'd to Fraud or Wrong, but gentle, kind,And not more soft in Body than in Mind.The others carry Fierceness in their Ray,Their Nature's bruitish, and intent on Prey;Ungrateful still, nor can they long retainA sense of Kindness, and unjust for Gain:But tho' by Nature these are both enclin'dTo frequent Quarrels, yet expect to findMore Force in that which is of double kind,Than in the Single Lion: Hence increaseSome sudden Heats, but intermixt with Peace.

The Bull and Goat are equally inclin'dTo mutual Friendship, both alike are kind;The Bull's Productions love fair Virgo's Race,Yet frequent Jarrs disjoin their close Embrace.The Scales and Urn one friendly Soul inspire,Their Love is setled, and their Faith intire;To both their Births the Twins productions proveThe surest Friends, and meet an equal Love.The Crab and Scorpion to their Births impartA friendly Temper, and an open Heart;Yet Scorpio's (Fraud amongst the Stars is found)Tho' Friends they seem, yet give a secret Wound,But those whom Pisces watry Rays create,Are constant neither in their Love, nor Hate;They change their Minds, now quarrel, now embrace,And Treachery lurks behind their fawning Face,Thus Signs or Love, or Hate: and These bestowTheir differing Tempers on their Births below.