And in the choise of a man's delights & maner of his life, there is a
decencie, and so we say th'old man generally is no fit companion for the
young man, nor the rich for the poore, nor the wise for the foolish. Yet
in some respects and by discretion it may be otherwise, as when the old
man hath the gouernment of the young, the wise teaches the foolish, the
rich is wayted on by the poore for their reliefe, in which regard the
conuersation is not indecent.
And _Proclus_ the Philosopher knowing how euery indecencie is vnpleasant
to nature, and namely, how vncomely a thing it is for young men to doe as
old men doe (at leastwise as young men for the most part doe take it)
applyed it very wittily to his purpose: for hauing his sonne and heire a
notable vnthrift, & delighting in nothing but in haukes and hounds and gay
apparrell, and such like vanities, which neither by gentle nor sharpe
admonitions of his father, could make him leaue. _Proclus_ himselfe not
onely bare with his sonne, but also vsed it himselfe for company, which
some of his frends greatly rebuked him for, saying, o _Proclus_, an olde
man and a Philosopher to play the foole and lasciuious more than the
sonne. Mary, quoth _Proclus_, & therefore I do it, for it is the next way
to make my sonne change his life, when he shall see how vndecent it is in
me to leade such a life, and for him being a yong man, to keepe companie
with me being an old man, and to doe that which I doe.
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