ill continued to
respect; for he knew that, with a gentleness of temper which scarcely
anything could exasperate, he possessed the firmest courage and a degree
of bodily strength which rendered that courage invincible. He affected,
indeed, to despise the virtuous moderation of his friend, and ridiculed
it with some of his looser comrades as an abject pusillanimity; but he
felt himself humbled whenever he was in his company as before a superior
being, and therefore gradually estranged himself from his society.

"Sophron, on the contrary, entertained the sincerest regard for his
friend; but he knew his defects, and trembled for the consequences which
the violence and ambition of his character might one day produce.
Whenever Tigranes abandoned his flocks, or left his rustic tasks undone,
Sophron had the goodness to supply whatever he had omitted. Such was the
vigour of his constitution, that he was indefatigable in every labour,
nor did he ever exert his force more willingly than in performing these
voluntary duties to his absent friend. Whenever he met with Tigranes he
accosted him in the gentlest manner, and endeavoured to win him back to
his former habits and manners. He represented to him the injury he did
his parents, and the disquietude he occasioned in their minds by thus
abandoning the duties of his profession. He sometimes, but with the
greatest mildness, hinted at the coldness with which Tigranes treated
him, and reminded his friend of the pleasing intercourse of their
childhood. But all his remonstrances were vain; Tigranes heard him at
first with coolness, then with impatience or contempt, and at last
avoided him altogether.

"Sophron had a lamb which he had formerly saved from the devouring jaws
of a wolf, who had already bitten him in several places, and destroyed
his dam. The tenderness with which this benevolent young man had nursed
and fed him during his infancy, had so attached him to his master, that
he seemed to prefer his society to that of his own species. Wherever
Sophron went, the faithful lamb accompanied him like his dogs, lay down
beside him when he reposed, and followed close behind when he drove the
rest of the flock to pasture. Sophron was equally attached to his dumb
companion: he often diverted himself with his innocent gambols, fed him
with the choicest herbs out of his hands, and when he slept at nights
the lamb was sure to repose beside him.

"It happened about this time that Tigranes,