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A complete scoundrel. Did you not flatter him yesterday? Did you not kiss his hands? That was a mask. The time came, and I threw off the mask, and revealed my mind.

Of Clement. Flattery is the disease of friendship; most people are accustomed to court the good fortunes of rulers rather than the rulers themselves.

Plutarch. Flattery is like a painted suit of armor. Therefore it gives pleasure, but provides no use.

The wood that makes the fire grow is consumed by the fire itself; and wealth, which feeds flatterers, is destroyed by these very men.

Just as ravens, lying in wait, gouge out the eyes of the dead; so flatterers with praises corrupt the reasoning of men

A dog must be considered the natural enemy of a hare, and a flatterer of a friend. One should prefer neither a courtesan to one's wife, nor flattery to friendship. One must delight in those who reprove, not in those who flatter. For the ones who us

grieving us, corrupt us; but those who indulge us, enfeeble and trip us up. Isocrates. Distinguish both those who flatter with art, and those with good will

who serve, so that the wicked may not have more than the good. Hate those who flatter just as those who deceive; for both

when trusted, wrong those who trusted them. 15Ε_114 Crates. Crates to a rich young man with many flatterers

in his train, said, Young man, I pity your solitude. Of Epictetus. Ravens, the eyes of the dead

abuse, when there is no need of them; but flatterers corrupt the souls of the living, and blind its eyes.

The anger of an ape and the threat of a flatterer must be considered equal. Accept those willing to give good counsel, but not those

who are always eager to flatter. For the former see what is advantageous in truth; while the latter look to what seems best to those in power; and imitating the shadows of bodies, they nod in agreement with what is said by them.

792 Of Dio Chrysostom. For of all vices, so to speak, one would find flattery to be the last. For first it corrupts praise, which is most beautiful and just, so that it no longer seems trustworthy or genuinely given; and what is most terrible of all, it gives the prizes of virtue to vice; so that they do much worse than those who debase the currency. For the latter make it suspect; but the former make virtue untrustworthy.

Diogenes. On flattery, as on a tomb, only the name of friendship is inscribed.

The same man, when asked, Which of the beasts bites worst? said: Of the wild ones, a slanderer; of the tame ones, a flatterer.

Demosthenes. Demosthenes said that a flatterer differs from a raven in this, that the one eats the living, the other the dead.

Antisthenes. Antisthenes says: It is better to fall among ravens than among flatterers; for the former abuse the body of the dead, while the latter abuse the soul of the living.

Favorinus. Just as Actaeon was killed by the dogs he himself fed, so flatterers devour those who feed them.

15Ε_116 Of Zeno. Examine yourself, whoever you are, and not for the sake of favor. Listen; and take away the frankness of flatterers.

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παμπόνηρος. Οὐ χθές αὐτόν ἐκολάκευες; οὐ τάς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ κατεφίλεις; Προσωπεῖον ἦν ἐκεῖνα. Ἦλθεν ὁ καιρός, καί ἔῤῥιψα τό προσωπεῖον, καί ἀπεφηνάμην τῇ διανοίᾳ.

Κλήμεντος. Νόσος φιλίας ἡ κολακεία· τάς τῶν ἀρχόντων εὐπραγίας μᾶλλον, ἤ τούς ἄρχοντας αὐτούς εἰώθασι θεραπεύειν οἱ πλεῖστοι.

Πλουτάρχ. Ἔοικεν ἡ κολακεία γραπτῇ πανοπλίᾳ. ∆ιό τέρψιν μέν ἔχει· χρείαν δέ οὐδεμίαν παρέχει.

Τά μέν ξύλα τό πῦρ αὐξάνοντα, ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πυρός καταναλίσκεται· ὁ δέ πλοῦτος τρέφων τούς κόλακας, ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν τούτων διαφθείρεται.

Ὥσπερ οἱ κόρακες παρεδρεύοντες ἐξορύσσουσι τούς τῶν νεκρῶν ὀφθαλμούς· οὕτως οἱ κόλακες τοῖς ἐπαίνοις τούς λογισμούς διαφθείρουσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων

Λαγῷ μέν κύνα, φίλῳ δέ κόλακα φύσει πολέμιον ἡγητέον. Οὔτε τῆς γαμετῆς τήν ἑταίραν, οὔτε τῆς φιλίας τήν κολακείαν δεῖ προτιμᾷν. Χαίρειν χρή τοῖς ἐλέγχουσιν, οὐ τοῖς κολακεύουσιν. Οἱ μέν γάρ ἡμᾶς

λυποῦντες, διεφείρουσιν· οἱ δέ χαριζόμενοι, ἐκλύουσι καί σκελίζουσιν. Ἰσοκράτ. ∆ιόρα καί τούς τέχνῃ κολακεύοντας, καί τούς μετ᾿ εὐνοίας

θεραπεύοντας, ἵνα μή πλεῖον οἱ πονηροί τῶν χρηστῶν ἔχωσιν. Μίσει τούς κολακεύοντας ὥσπερ τούς ἐξαπατοῦντας· ἀφμότεροι γάρ

πιστευθέντες, τούς πιστεύσαντας ἀδικοῦσι. 15Ε_114 Κράτης. Κράτης πρός νέον πλούσιον πολλούς κόλακας

ἐπισυρόμενον, εἶπε, Νεανίσκε, ἐλεῶ σου τήν ἐρημίαν. Ἐπικτήτου. Οἱ μέν κόρακες, τῶν τετελευτηκότων τούς ὀφθαλμούς

λυναίνονται, ὅτα οὐδέν αὐτῶν ἐστι χρεία· οἱ δέ κόλακες, τῶν ζώντων τάς ψυχάς διαφθείρουσι, καί ταύτης ὄμματα τυφλώττουσιν.

Πιθήκου ὀργήν, καί κόλακος ἀπειλήν, ἐν ἴσῳ θετέον. Ἀποδέχου τούς τά χρηστά συμβουλεύειν ἐθέλοντας, ἀλλά μή τούς

κολακεύειν ἑκάστοτε σπεύδοντας. Οἱ μέν γάρ τό συμφέρον ἐν ἀληθείᾳ ὁρῶσιν· οἱ δέ, πρός τά δοκοῦντα τοῖς κρατοῦσιν ἀφορῶσι· καί τῶν σωμάτων τάς σκιάς μιμούμενοι, τοῖς παρ᾿ αὐτῶν λεγομένοις συννεύουσιν.

792 ∆ίωνος τοῦ Χρυσοστ. Πασῶν γάρ, ὡς ἕπος εἰπεῖν, τῶν κακιῶν, ἐσχάτην ἄν τις εὕροι τήν κολακείαν. Πρῶτον μέν γάρ τό κάλλιστον καί δικαιότατον διαφθείρει τόν ἔπαινον, ὥστε μηκέτι δοκεῖν πιστόν μηδ᾿ ἀληθῶς γινόμενον· καί τό γε πάντων δεινότατον, τά τῆς ἀρετῆς ἔπαθλα τῇ κακίᾳ δίδωσιν· ὥστε πολύ χεῖρον δρῶσι τῶν διαφθειρόντων τό νόμισμα. Οἱ μέν γάρ ὕποπτον αὐτό ποιοῦσιν· οἱ δέ τήν ἀρετήν ἄπιστον.

∆ιογέν. Ἐπί τῆς κολακείας, ὥσπερ ἐπί μνήματος, αὐτό μόνον τό ὄνομα τῆς φιλίας ἐπιγέγραπται.

Ὁ αὐτός ἐρωτηθείς, Τί τῶν θηρίων κάκιστα δάκνει; ἔφη· Τῶν μέν ἀγρίων, συκοφάντης· τῶν δέ ἡμέρων, κόλαξ.

∆ημοσθ. ∆ημοσθένης ἔφη, τόν κόλακα τοῦτο διαφέρειν τοῦ κόρακος, ὅτι ὁ μέν ζῶντας, ὁ δέ νεκρούς ἐσθίει.

Ἀντισθέν. Ἀντισθένης φησίν· Αἱρετώτερον εἰς κόρακας ἐμπεσεῖν, ἤ εἰς κόλακας· οἱ μέν γάρ ἀποθανόντος τό σῶμα, οἱ δέ ζῶντος τήν ψυχήν λυμαίνονται.

Φαβωρίν. Ὥσπερ ὁ Ἀκταίων ὑπό τῶν τρεφομένων ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ κυνῶν ἀπέθανεν, οὕτως οἱ κόλακες τούς τρέφοντας κατεσθίουσιν.

15Ε_116 Ζήνωνος. Ἔλεγχε σαυτόν, ὅστις εἶ, καί μή πρός χάριν. Ἄκου· ἀφαιροῦ δέ κολάκων παῤῥησίαν.