A man is known by the company he keeps. The origin of that well-worn line is a fable by Aesop called, fittingly, “The Ass and His Purchaser.”
As it goes, a man brings a new donkey home, and when he sees that it chooses to sidle up next to “the laziest and greediest beast in the stable,” the man tries to return the donkey, saying, “I could see what sort of beast he is from the companion he chose for himself.”
