Judge a man by the company he keeps.

Joe Lonsdale would do well on that measure, and he would also likely approve of the sources associated with the adage, as it appears in places such as Aesop’s Fables (circa sixth century B.C., particularly in The Ass and His Purchaser, where the moral states: “A man is known by the company he keeps”); Euripides, the ancient Greek playwright (circa fifth century B.C., “Every man is like the company he is wont to keep”); and the Bible in passages such as Proverbs 13:20, “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.”

All of that sourcing speaks to the ancient roots of western civilization, something Lonsdale has studied and considers under attack.

His own adherence to those ancient sentiments has taken the forms of Andrew Young, former Atlanta mayor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder; Marc Andreessen, Netscape co-founder and nameplate par