124. For that commendable friendship which maintains virtue is to be preferred most certainly to wealth, or honours, or power. It is not wont to be preferred to virtue indeed, but to follow after it. Cic. de Off. III. 10, § 43. So it was with Jonathan, 1 Sam. [1 Kings] xx. 27. who for his affection’s sake avoided not his father’s displeasure nor the danger to his own safety. So, too, it was with Ahimelech, who, to preserve the duties of hospitality, thought he must endure death rather than betray his friend when fleeing. 1 Sam. [1 Kings] xxii. 17.