42: Aurelius & Aesop - The Friendship of Wolves

Donavon Riley reads Marcus Aurelius' Meditations and Aesop's Fables and discusses honesty and the friendship of wolves.

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The rotten pretense of the man who says, 'I prefer to be honest with you'! What are you on about, man! No need for this preface - the reality will show. It should be written on your forehead, immediately clear in the tone of your voice and the light of your eyes, just as the loved one can immediately read all in the glance of his lover. In short, the good and honest man should have the same effect as the unwashed - anyone close by as he passes detects the aura, willy-nilly, at once. Calculated honesty is a stiletto. There is nothing more degrading than the friendship of wolves: avoid that above all. The good, honest, kindly man has it in his eyes, and you cannot mistake him.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 11.15

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The wolves said to the dogs: 'Why, when you are so like us in all respects, don't we come to some brotherly understanding? For there is no difference between us except our ways of thinking. We live in freedom; you submit and are enslaved by man and endure his blows. You wear collars and you watch over their flocks, and when your masters eat, all they throw to you are some bones. But take our word for it, if you hand over the flocks to us we can all club together and gorge our appetites jointly.'

The dogs were sympathetic to this proposal, so the wolves, making their way inside the sheepfold, tore the dogs to pieces.

Aesop's Fables, "The Dogs Reconciled with the Wolves," or, "The Wolves and the Sheepdog"