Plutarch’s essay on flatterers is addressed to C. Julius Antiochus Philopappus, a descendant of the kings of Commagene, whose monument still stands on the Museum Hill at Athens. He was a patron of art and literature, and on friendly terms with Plutarch.a The essay is not concerned with the impecunious and dependent adherents (parasites) of the rich, but with the adroit flatterers of a higher standing, who worm their way into the confidence of great men, and exercise a pernicious influence upon them. That Philopappus may have stood in need of such a warning may readily be inferred. The essay, at the close, digresses into a disquisition on frank speech (παρρησία) that might easily have been made into a separate treatise, but which is developed naturally from the attempt to distinguish the genuineness of a friend from the affectation of a flatterer. Frank speech was regarded in classical times as the birthright of every Athenian citizen, but under the political conditions existent in Plutarch’s day it was probably safer to cultivate it as a private virtue. Plato says, my dear Antiochus Philopappus, that everyone grants forgiveness to the man who avows that he dearly loves himself, but he also says that along with many other faults which are engendered thereby the most serious is that which makes it impossible for such a man to be an honest and unbiased judge of himself. “For Love is blind as regards the beloved,” unless one, through study, has acquired the habit of respecting and pursuing what is honourable rather than what is inbred and familiar. This fact affords to the flatterer a very wide field within the realm of friendship, since in our love of self he has an excellent base of operations against us. It is because of this self-love that everybody is himself his own foremost and greatest flatterer, and hence finds no difficulty in admitting the outsider to witness with him and to confirm his own conceits and desires. For the man who is spoken of with opprobrium as a lover of flatterers is in high degree a lover of self, and, because of his kindly feeling toward himself, he desires and conceives himself to be endowed with all manner of good qualities; but although the desire for these is not unnatural, yet the conceit that one possesses them is dangerous and must be carefully avoided. Now if Truth is a thing divine, and, as Plato puts it, the origin “of all good for gods and all good for men,” then the flatterer is in all likelihood an enemy to the gods and particularly to the Pythian god. For the flatterer always takes a position over against the maxim “Know thyself,” by creating in every man deception towards himself and ignorance both of himself and of the good and evil that concerns himself; the good he renders defective and incomplete, and the evil wholly impossible to amend.
τῷ σφόδρα φιλεῖν ἑαυτόν, ὦ Ἀντίοχε Φιλόπαππε, φάσκοντι συγγνώμην μὲν ἅπαντας ὁ Πλάτων διδόναι φησί, κακίαν δὲ σὺν πολλαῖς; ἄλλαις ἐγγίγνεσθαι μεγίστην, ὑφʼ ἧς οὐκ ἔστιν αὑτοῦ κριτὴν δίκαιον οὐδʼ ἀδέκαστον εἶναι· τυφλοῦται γὰρ τὸ φιλοῦν περὶ τὸ φιλούμενον ἂν μή τις μαθὼν ἐθισθῇ τὰ καλὰ τιμᾶν καὶ διώκειν μᾶλλον ἢ τὰ συγγενῆ καὶ οἰκεῖα. τοῦτο τῷ κόλακι πολλὴν μεταξὺ τῆς φιλίας εὐρυχωρίαν δίδωσιν, ὁρμητήριον ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς εὐφυὲς ἔχοντι τὴν φιλαυτίαν, διʼ ἣν αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ κόλαξ ἕκαστος ὢν πρῶτος καὶ μέγιστος οὐ χαλεπῶς προσίεται τὸν ἔξωθεν ὧν οἴεται καὶ βούλεται. μάρτυν ἅμʼ αὐτῷ καὶ βεβαιωτὴν προσγιγνόμενον. ὁ γὰρ λοιδορούμενος φιλοκόλαξ σφόδρα φίλαυτός ἐστι, διʼ εὔνοιαν ἑαυτῷ πάντα μὲν ὑπάρχειν βουλόμενος πάντα δʼ οἰόμενος ὧν ἡ μὲν βούλησις οὐκ ἄτοπος ἡ δʼ οἴησις ἐπισφαλὴς καὶ δεομένη πολλῆς εὐλαβείας. εἰ δὲ δὴ θεῖον ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ πάντων μὲν ἀγαθῶν θεοῖς πάντων δʼ ἀνθρώποις ἀρχὴ κατὰ Πλάτωνα, κινδυνεύει θεοῖς ἐχθρὸς ὁ κόλαξ εἶναι, τῷ δὲ Πυθίῳ διαφερόντως. ἀντιτάττεται γὰρ ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ γνῶθι σαυτόν, ἀπάτην ἑκάστῳ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐμποιῶν καὶ ἄγνοιαν ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τῶν περὶ αὑτὸν ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν, τὰ μὲν ἐλλιπῆ καὶ ἀτελῆ τὰ δʼ ὅλως ἀνεπανόρθωτα ποιῶν.
2. If the flatterer, then, like most other evils, attacked solely or mostly the ignoble and mean, he would not be so formidable or so hard to guard against. But the fact is, that as bore-worms make their entrance chiefly into the delicate and sweetscented kinds of wood, so it is ambitious, honest, and promising characters that receive and nourish the flatterer as he hangs upon them. Moreover, just as Simonides says, “The rearing of horses consorts not with Zacynthus, But with wheat-bearing acres,” so we observe that flattery does not attend upon poor, obscure, or unimportant persons, but makes itself a stumbling-block and a pestilence in great houses and great affairs, and oftentimes overturns kingdoms and principalities. Wherefore it is no small task, nor a matter requiring but slight foresight, to subject it to examination, so that, being thoroughly exposed, it may be prevented from injuring or discrediting friendship. Vermin depart from dying persons and forsake their bodies, as the blood, from which the vermin derive their sustenance, loses its vitality; and so flatterers are never so much as to be seen coming near where succulence and warmth are lacking, but where renown and power attend, there do they throng and thrive; but if a change come, they slink away quickly and are gone. But we must not wait until that experience shall befall, which is a thing profitless, or rather injurious and not devoid of danger. For it is cruel to discover friends that are no friends at a crucial time which calls for friends, since there is then no exchanging one that is untrustworthy and spurious for the true and trustworthy. But one’s friend, like a coin, should have been examined and approved before the time of need, not proved by the need to be no friend. For we must not wait for injury to open our eyes, but to avoid injury we must gain acquaintance with the flatterer and learn how to detect him; otherwise we shall be in the same case with those who try to learn about deadly drugs by tasting them first, and so ruin and destroy themselves in order to reach their decision. We do not, of course, commend such persons, nor again those who rate the friend as something noble and beneficial, and so imagine that all who are socially agreeable at once stand openly convicted of being flatterers. For a friend is not unpleasant or absolute, nor is it bitterness and sternness that give dignity to friendship, but this very nobility and dignity in it is sweet and desirable. “Close by its side have the Graces and Longing established their dwelling,” and not merely for one who is in misfortune “’Tis sweet to gaze into a kind man’s eyes,” as Euripides has it, but when friendship attends us, it brings pleasure and delight to our prosperity no less than it takes away the griefs and the feeling of helplessness from adversity. As Evenus has remarked that fire is the best of sauce, so God, by commingling friendship with our life, has made everything cheerful, sweet and agreeable, when friendship is there to share in our enjoyment. Indeed, how the flatterer could use pleasures to insinuate himself, if he saw that friendship was nowhere ready to welcome what is pleasant, no man can explain. But just as false and counterfeit imitations of gold imitate only its brilliancy and lustre, so apparently the flatterer, imitating the pleasant and attractive characteristics of the friend, always presents himself in a cheerful and blithe mood, with never a whit of crossing or opposition. But that is no reason why persons who express commendation should instantly be suspected of being simply flatterers. For commendation at the right time is no less becoming to friendship than is censure, or we may express it better by saying that complaining and fault-finding generally is unfriendly and unsociable, whereas the kindly feeling that ungrudgingly and readily bestows commendation for noble acts inclines us, at some later time, cheerfully and without distress to bear admonishment and frankness of speech, since we believe, and are content, that the man who is glad to commend blames only when he must.
2. εἰ μὲν οὖν, ὡς τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν ἄλλων κακῶν, κόλαξ ἥπτετο μόνον ἢ μάλιστα τῶν ἀγεννῶν καὶ φαύλων, οὐκ ἂν ἦν οὕτω δεινὸν οὐδὲ δυσφύλακτον· ἐπεὶ δʼ ὥσπερ οἱ θρῖπες ἐνδύονται μάλιστα τοῖς ἁπαλοῖς καὶ γλυκέσι ξύλοις, οὕτω τὰ φιλότιμα τῶν ἠθῶν καὶ χρηστὰ καὶ ἐπιεικῆ τὸν κόλακα δέχεται καὶ τρέφει προσφυόμενον, ἔτι δʼ ὥσπερ ὁ Σιμωνίδης τὴν ἱπποτροφίαν φησὶν οὐ Ζακύνθῳ ὀπαδεῖν ἀλλʼ ἀρούραισι πυροφόροις, οὕτω τὴν κολακείαν ὁρῶμεν οὐ πένησιν οὐδʼ ἀδόξοις οὐδʼ ἀδυνάτοις ἀκολουθοῦσαν, ἀλλʼ οἴκων τε καὶ πραγμάτων μεγάλων ὀλίσθημα καὶ νόσημα γιγνομένην, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ βασιλείας καὶ ἡγεμονίας ἀνατρέπουσαν· οὐ μικρὸν ἔργον ἐστὶν οὐδὲ φαύλης δεόμενον προνοίας ἡ περὶ αὐτὴν ἐπίσκεψις, ὡς ἂν μάλιστα περίφωρος οὖσα μὴ βλάπτῃ μηδὲ διαβάλλῃ τὴν φιλίαν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ φθεῖρες ἀπίασιν ἀπὸ τῶν τελευτώντων καὶ ἀπολείπουσι τὰ σώματα σβεννυμένου τοῦ αἵματος ἐξ οὗ τρέφονται, τοὺς δὲ κόλακας οὐδʼ ὅλως ἰδεῖν ἔστι πράγμασι ξηροῖς καὶ κατεψυγμένοις προσιόντας, ἀλλὰ ταῖς δόξαις καὶ ταῖς δυνάμεσιν ἐπιτίθενται καὶ αὔξονται, ταχὺ δʼ ἐν ταῖς μεταβολαῖς ὑπορρέουσιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν τότε πεῖραν οὐ δεῖ περιμένειν ἀνωφελῆ, μᾶλλον δὲ βλαβερὰν καὶ οὐκ ἀκίνδυνον οὖσαν. χαλεπὴ γὰρ ἐν καιρῷ δεομένῳ φίλων ἡ τῶν μὴ φίλων αἴσθησις, ἀντικαταλλαγὴν οὐκ ἔχουσα χρηστοῦ καὶ βεβαίου πρὸς ἀβέβαιον καὶ κίβδηλον. ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ νόμισμα δεῖ τὸν φίλον ἔχειν πρὸ τῆς χρείας δεδοκιμασμένον, μὴ ὑπὸ τῆς χρείας ἐλεγχόμενον. οὐ γὰρ δεῖ βλαβέντας αἰσθέσθαι, ἀλλʼ ὅπως μὴ βλαβῶμεν ἐμπειρίαν λαβεῖν καὶ κατανόησιν τοῦ κόλακος· εἰ δὲ μή, ταὐτὸ πεισόμεθα τοῖς αἰσθανομένοις τῷ προγεγεῦσθαι τῶν θανασίμων φαρμάκων εἰς τὴν κρίσιν ἀπολλύντες ἑαυτοὺς καὶ διαφθείροντες. οὔτε γὰρ δὴ τούτους ἐπαινοῦμεν οὔθʼ ὅσοι τὸν φίλον εἰς τὸ καλὸν τιθέμενοι καὶ ὠφέλιμον οἴονται τοὺς κεχαρισμένως ὁμιλοῦντας εὐθὺς ἔχειν ἐπʼ αὐτοφώρῳ κόλακας εἰλημμένους. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀηδὴς ὁ φίλος οὐδʼ ἄκρατος, οὐδὲ τῷ πικρῷ σεμνὸν ἡ φιλία καὶ αὐστηρῷ, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο τὸ καλὸν καὶ τὸ σεμνὸν αὐτῆς ἡδὺ καὶ ποθούμενόν ἐστι,πὰρ δʼ αὐτῇ Χάριτές τε καὶ Ἵμερος οἰκίʼ ἔθεντο,καὶ οὐ δυστυχοῦντι μόνονεἰς ὄμματʼ εὔνου φωτὸς ἐμβλέψαι γλυκὺκατʼ Εὐριπίδην, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν ἧττον τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἡδονὴν ἐπιφέρουσα καὶ χάριν ἢ τῶν κακῶν ἀφαιροῦσα τὰς λύπας καὶ τὰς ἀπορίας παρέπεται. καὶ καθάπερ ὁ Εὔηνος εἶπε, τῶν ἡδυσμάτων τὸ πῦρ εἶναι κράτιστον, οὕτω τῷ βίῳ μίξας τὴν φιλίαν ὁ θεὸς ἅπαντα φαιδρὰ καὶ γλυκέα καὶ προσφιλῆ ταύτης παρούσης καὶ συναπολαυούσης ἐποίησεν. ἐπεὶ πῶς ἂν ὁ κόλαξ ὑπεδύετο ταῖς ἡδοναῖς, εἰ τὴν φιλίαν ἑώρα τὸ ἡδὺ μηδαμοῦ προσιεμένην; οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν. ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ τὰ ψευδόχρυσα καὶ τὰ κίβδηλα τὴν λαμπρότητα τοῦ χρυσοῦ καὶ τὸ γάνωμα μιμεῖται μόνον, οὕτως ἔοικεν ὁ κόλαξ τοῦ φίλου τὸ ἡδὺ καὶ κεχαρισμένον ἐκμιμούμενος ἀεὶ παρέχειν ἱλαρὸν καὶ ἀνθηρὸν καὶ πρὸς μηδὲν ἀντιβαίνοντα μηδʼ ὑπεναντιούμενον ἑαυτόν, ὅθεν οὐδὲ τοὺς ἐπαινοῦντας εὐθὺς ὡς κολακεύοντας ἁπλῶς ὑφορατέον ἔπαινος γὰρ οὐχ ἧττον ἐν καιρῷ ψόγου φιλίᾳ προσήκει, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ μὲν δύσκολον ὅλως καὶ μεμψίμοιρον ἄφιλον καὶ ἀνομίλητον, τῆς δʼ ἀφθόνως καὶ προθύμως τὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς καλοῖς ἀποδιδούσης ἔπαινον εὐνοίας καὶ τὸ νουθετοῦν αὖθις καὶ παρρησιαζόμενον ἐλαφρῶς καὶ ἀλύπως ὑπομένομεν, πιστεύοντες καὶ ἀγαπῶντες ὡς ἀναγκαίως ψέγοντα τὸν ἡδέως ἐπαινοῦντα.
3. One might say, then, that it is difficult to distinguish flatterer and friend, if neither pleasure nor praise shows the difference; indeed, in services and courtesies we may often observe that friendship is outstripped by flattery. How can it be helped, will be our answer, if we are in quest of the real flatterer, who takes hold of the business with adroitness and skill, and if we do not, like most people, regard as flatterers merely those self-ministering trencherslaves, so called, whose tongue will be wagging, as one man has put it, as soon as the water is brought for the hands, for whom one dish and one glass of wine is enough to show their ill breeding with its display of vulgarity and offensiveness? Surely there was no need to press the case against Melanthius, the parasite of Alexander of Pherae, who, in answer to those who asked how Alexander was slain, said, “By a stab through his ribs that hit me in my belly ”; nor those who throng round a rich man’s table whom “Not fire, nor steel, Nor bronze can keep From coming each day to dine.” nor the flatteresses in Cyprus, who when they had crossed over into Syria, acquired the nickname of “ladderesses,” because by prostrating themselves they afforded by their bodies a means for the women of the royal household to mount their carriages.
3. χαλεπὸν οὖν φαίη τις ἄν ἐστι διακρῖναι τὸν κόλακα καὶ τὸν φίλον, εἰ μήθʼ ἡδονῇ μήτʼ ἐπαίνῳ διαφέρουσι· καὶ γὰρ ἐν ὑπουργίαις καὶ διακονίαις πολλάκις ἰδεῖν ἐστι τὴν φιλίαν ὑπὸ τῆς κολακείας παρατρεχομένην. τί δʼ οὐ μέλλει, φήσομεν, ἂν τὸν ἀληθινὸν κόλακα καὶ μετὰ δεινότητος καὶ τέχνης ἁπτόμενον τοῦ πράγματος διώκωμεν, ἀλλὰ μή, καθάπερ οἱ πολλοί, τοὺς αὐτοληκύθους τούτους λεγομένους καὶ τραπεζέας καὶ μετὰ τὸ κατὰ χειρὸς ὕδωρ ἀκουομένους ὥς τις εἶπε κόλακας νομίζωμεν, ὧν ἐν μιᾷ λοπάδι καὶ κύλικι μετὰ βωμολοχίας καὶ βδελυρίας ἡ ἀνελευθερία γίγνεται κατάδηλος; οὐ γὰρ δήπου Μελάνθιον ἔδει τὸν Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Φεραίου παράσιτον ἐξελέγχειν, ὃς τοῖς ἐρωτῶσι πῶς Ἀλέξανδρος ἐσφάγη διὰ τῆς πλευρᾶς ἔλεγεν εἰς τὴν γαστέρα τὴν ἐμήν, οὐδὲ τοὺς ἀμφὶ πλουσίαν τράπεζαν ἐγκυκλουμένους, οὓς οὐ πῦρ οὐ σίδαρος οὐδὲ χαλκὸς εἴργει μὴ φοιτᾶν ἐπὶ δεῖπνον, οὐδὲ τὰς ἐν Κύπρῳ κολακίδας, ἐπειδὴ διέβησαν εἰς Συρίαν, κλιμακίδας προσαγορευθείσας, ὅτι ταῖς γυναιξὶ τῶν βασιλέων ἀναβαίνειν ἐπὶ τὰς ἁμάξας διʼ αὑτῶν ὑποκατακλινόμεναι παρεῖχον.
4. Against whom, then, must we be on our guard? Against the man who does not seem to flatter and will not admit that he does so, the man who is never to be found hanging round the kitchen, never caught noting the shadow on the sun-dial to see if it is getting towards dinner-time, never gets drunk and drops down in a heap on the floor; he is usually sober, he is always busy, and must have a hand in everything; he has a mind to be in all secrets, and in general plays the part of friend with the gravity of a tragedian and not like a comedian or a buffoon. For as Plato says, “it is the height of dishonesty to seem to be honest when one is not,” and so the flattery which we must regard as difficult to deal with is that which is hidden, not that which is openly avowed, that which is serious, not that which is meant as a joke. For such flattery infects even true friendship with distrust, unless we give heed, for in many respects it coincides with friendship. Now it is true that Gobryas, having forced his way into a dark room along with the fleeing Magian, and finding himself engaged in a desperate struggle, called upon Darius, who had stopped beside them and was in doubt what to do, to strike even though he should pierce them both; but we, if we can by no means approve the sentiment, “Down with a foe though a friend go too,” have great cause to fear in seeking to detach the flatterer, who through many similarities is closely interlocked with the friend, lest in some way we either cast out the useful along with the bad, or else, in trying to spare what is close to our hearts, we fall upon what is injurious. So, I think, when wild seeds which have a shape and size approximating to wheat have got mixed with it, the process of cleaning is difficult (for either they do not pass out through a finer sieve, or else they do pass out through a coarser, and the wheat along with them); in like manner, flattery which blends itself with every emotion, every movement, need, and habit, is hard to separate from friendship.
4. τίνα οὖν δεῖ φυλάττεσθαι; τὸν μὴ δοκοῦντα μηδʼ ὁμολογοῦντα κολακεύειν, ὃν οὐκ ἔστι λαβεῖν περὶ τοὐπτανεῖον, οὐδʼ ἁλίσκεται σκιὰν καταμετρῶν ἐπὶ δεῖπνον, οὐδʼ ἔρριπται μεθυσθεὶς ὅπως ἔτυχεν, ἀλλὰ νήφει τὰ πολλὰ καὶ πολυπραγμονεῖ καὶ πράξεων μετέχειν οἴεται δεῖν καὶ λόγων ἀπορρήτων βούλεται κοινωνὸς εἶναι, καὶ ὅλως τραγικός ἐστιν οὐ σατυρικὸς φιλίας ὑποκριτὴς οὐδὲ κωμικός. ὡς γὰρ ὁ Πλάτων φησὶν ἐσχάτης ἀδικίας εἶναι δοκεῖν δίκαιον μὴ ὄντα, καὶ κολακείαν ἡγητέον χαλεπὴν τὴν λανθάνουσαν οὐ τὴν ὁμολογοῦσαν, οὐδὲ τὴν παίζουσαν ἀλλὰ τὴν σπουδάζουσαν αὕτη γὰρ ἀναπίμπλησι καὶ τὴν ἀληθινὴν φιλίαν ἀπιστίας, συνεμπίπτουσαν αὐτῇ πολλάκις, ἂν μὴ προσέχωμεν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Γωβρύης εἰς σκοτεινὸν οἴκημα τῷ μάγῳ φεύγοντι συνεισπεσὼν καὶ γενόμενος ἐν διαπάλαις ἐπιστάντα καὶ διαποροῦντα τὸν Δαρεῖον ἐκέλευσεν ὠθεῖν καὶ διʼ ἀμφοτέρων· ἡμεῖς δέ, εἰ μηδαμῆ μηδαμῶς ἐπαινοῦμεν τὸ ἐρρέτω φίλος σὺν ἐχθρῷ, διὰ πολλῶν ὁμοιοτήτων τὸν κόλακα τῷ φίλῳ συμπεπλεγμένον ἀποσπάσαι ζητοῦντες ὀφείλομεν εὖ μάλα φοβεῖσθαι μή πως ἢ τῷ κακῷ τὸ χρήσιμον συνεκβάλωμεν ἢ φειδόμενοι τοῦ οἰκείου τῷ βλάπτοντι περιπέσωμεν. ὥσπερ γὰρ οἶμαι τῶν ἀγρίων σπερμάτων ὅσα καὶ σχῆμα καὶ μέγεθος παραπλήσιον ἔχοντα τῷ πυρῷ συμμέμικται χαλεπὴν ἔχει τὴν ἀποκάθαρσιν γὰρ οὐ διεκπίπτει τῶν στενοτέρων πόρων ἢ συνεκπίπτει διὰ τῶν ἀραιῶν, οὕτως ἡ κολακεία τῆς φιλίας εἰς πᾶν πάθος καὶ πᾶν κίνημα καὶ χρείαν καὶ συνήθειαν ἑαυτὴν καταμιγνύουσα δυσχώριστός ἐστιν.
5. For the very reason, however, that friendship is the most pleasant thing in the world, and because nothing else gives greater delight, the flatterer allures by means of pleasures and concerns himself with pleasures. And just because graciousness and usefulness go with friendship (which is the reason why they say that a friend is more indispensable than fire and water), the flatterer thrusts himself into services for us, striving always to appear earnest, unremitting, and diligent. And inasmuch as that which most especially cements a friendship begun is a likeness of pursuits and characters, and since to take delight in the same things and avoid the same things is what generally brings people together in the first place, and gets them acquainted through the bond of sympathy, the flatterer takes note of this fact, and adjusts and shapes himself, as though he were so much inert matter, endeavouring to adapt and mould himself to fit those whom he attacks through imitation; and he is so supple in changes and so plausible in his copyings that we may exclaim: “Achilles’ self thou art and not his son.” But the most unprincipled trick of all that he has is this: perceiving that frankness of speech, by common report and belief, is the language of friendship especially (as an animal has its peculiar cry), and, on the other hand, that lack of frankness is unfriendly and ignoble, he does not allow even this to escape imitation, but, just as clever cooks employ bitter extracts and astringent flavourings to remove the cloying effect of sweet things, so flatterers apply a frankness which is not genuine or beneficial, but which, as it were, winks while it frowns, and does nothing but tickle. For these reasons, then, the man is hard to detect, as is the case with some animals to which Nature has given the faculty of changing their hue, so that they exactly conform to the colours and objects beneath them. And since the flatterer uses resemblances to deceive and to wrap about him, it is our task to use the differences in order to unwrap him and lay him bare, in the act, as Plato puts it, of “adorning himself with alien colours and forms for want of any of his own.”
5. ὅτι μέντοι γε πάντων ἥδιστόν ἐστιν ἡ φιλία καὶ οὐδὲν ἄλλο μᾶλλον εὐφραίνει, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ κόλαξ ἡδοναῖς ὑπάγεται καὶ περὶ ἡδονάς ἐστιν. ὅτι δʼ ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ χρεία τῇ φιλίᾳ παρέπεται καθʼ ὃ δὴ καὶ λέγεται πυρὸς καὶ ὕδατος ὁ φίλος ἀναγκαιότερος εἶναι, διὰ τοῦτʼ ἐμβάλλων εἰς τὰς ὑπουργίας ἑαυτὸν ὁ κόλαξ ἁμιλλᾶται σπουδαστικὸς ἀεὶ φαίνεσθαι καὶ ἄοκνος καὶ πρόθυμος. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ μάλιστα φιλίας ἀρχὴν συνέχον ὁμοιότης ἐστὶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων καὶ ἠθῶν, καὶ ὅλως τὸ χαίρειν τε τοῖς αὐτοῖς καὶ τὸ ταὐτὰ φεύγειν πρῶτον εἰς ταὐτὸ συνάγει καὶ συνίστησι διὰ τῆς ὁμοιοπαθείας, τοῦτο κατιδὼν ὁ κόλαξ αὑτὸν ὥσπερ ὕλην τινὰ ῥυθμίζει καὶ σχηματίζει, περιαρμόσαι καὶ περιπλάσαι ζητῶν οἷς ἂν ἐπιχειρῇ διὰ μιμήσεως, ὑγρὸς ὢν μεταβάλλεσθαι καὶ πιθανὸς ἐπὶ τὰς ἐξομοιώσεις, ὥστʼ εἰπεῖνοὐ παῖς Ἀχιλλέως, ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνος αὐτὸς εἶὃ δὲ πάντων ἐστὶν αὐτοῦ πανουργότατον, αἰσθανόμενος τὴν παρρησίαν καὶ λεγομένην καὶ δοκοῦσαν ἰδίαν εἶναι φωνὴν ὥσπερ τινὸς ζῴου τῆς φιλίας, τὸ δʼ ἀπαρρησίαστον ἄφιλον καὶ ἀγεννές, οὐδὲ ταύτην ἀμίμητον ἀπολέλοιπεν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ οἱ δεινοὶ τῶν ὀψοποιῶν τοῖς πικροῖς χυμοῖς καὶ αὐστηροῖς ἡδύσμασι χρῶνται, τῶν γλυκέων ἀφαιροῦντες τὸ πλήσμιον, οὕτως οἱ κόλακες οὐκ ἀληθινὴν οὐδʼ ὠφέλιμον ἀλλʼ οἷον ἐπιλλώπτουσαν ἐξ ὀφρύος καὶ γαργαλίζουσαν ἀτεχνῶς παρρησίαν προσφέρουσιν. ἔστι μὲν οὖν διὰ ταῦτα δυσφώρατος ὁ ἀνήρ, ὥσπερ τῶν θηρίων ὅσα πεφυκότα τὴν χρόαν τρέπεσθαι συναφομοιοῦται τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις χρώμασι καὶ χωρίοις· ἐπεὶ δʼ ἐκεῖνος ἐξαπατᾷ τε καὶ περικαλύπτεται ταῖς ὁμοιότησιν, ἡμέτερον ἔργον ἐστὶ ταῖς διαφοραῖς ἀνακαλύπτειν καὶ ἀπογυμνοῦν αὐτὸν ἀλλοτρίοις χρώμασι καὶ σχήμασιν, φησιν ὁ Πλάτων, χήτει οἰκείων κοσμούμενον εὐθὺς οὖν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς σκοπῶμεν.
6. Let us, then, consider this matter from the beginning. We have previously said that with most people the beginning of friendship is their congenial disposition and nature, which welcomes the same habits and traits, as nearly as may be, and takes delight in the same pursuits, activities, and avocations; on the subject of this it has also been said: “An old man hath the sweetest tongue for old, And child for child, and woman suits her kind, A sick man suits the sick; misfortune’s thrall Hath charms for him who hath just met mischance.” So then the flatterer, knowing that when people take delight in the same things it is only natural that they find enjoyment and satisfaction in each other’s company, adopts this course in making his first attempts to approach each victim and to secure a lodgement near him; he acts as though the man were some animal running at large in a pasture, and by affecting the same pursuits, the same avocations, interests and manner of life, he gradually gets close to him, and rubs up against him so as to take on his colouring, until his victim gives him some hold and becomes docile and accustomed to his touch: he is ever disapproving actions and lives and persons which he perceives his victim to dislike, while if anything pleases the other he commends, not with moderation, but so as plainly to outdo him in amazement and wonder, and at the same time he stoutly maintains that his affection and hatred are the result of judgement rather than of emotion.
6. ἀρχὴν δὲ φιλίας ἔφαμεν εἶναι τοῖς πλείστοις τὴν ταὐτὰ μὲν ἐπιεικῶς ἀσπαζομένην ἔθη καὶ ἤθη τοῖς δʼ αὐτοῖς χαίρουσαν ἐπιτηδεύμασι καὶ πράγμασι καὶ διατριβαῖς ὁμοιοπαθῆ διάθεσιν καὶ φύσιν, ἐφʼ ἧς καὶ ταῦτʼ εἴρηταιγέρων γέροντι γλῶσσαν ἡδίστην ἔχει,παῖς παιδί, καὶ γυναικὶ πρόσφορον γυνή,νοσῶν τʼ ἀνὴρ νοσοῦντι, καὶ δυσπραξίᾳληφθεὶς ἐπῳδός ἐστι τῷ πειρωμένῳεἰδὼς οὖν ὁ κόλαξ ὅτι τὸ χαίρειν τοῖς ὁμοίοις καὶ τὸ χρῆσθαι καὶ ἀγαπᾶν ἔμφυτόν ἐστι, ταύτῃ πρῶτον ἐπιχειρεῖ πλησιάζειν ἑκάστῳ καὶ παρασκηνοῦν, ὥσπερ ἔν τισι νομαῖς τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασι καὶ διατριβαῖς περὶ ταὐτὰ καὶ σπουδαῖς καὶ διαίταις ἀτρέμα παραβάλλων καὶ προσαναχρωννύμενος, ἄχρι οὗ λαβὴν παραδῷ καὶ ψαύοντι τιθασὸς γένηται καὶ συνήθης, ψέγων μὲν οἷς ἐκεῖνον αἰσθάνεται πράγμασι καὶ βίοις καὶ ἀνθρώποις ἀχθόμενον, ἐπαινέτης δὲ τῶν ἀρεσκόντων. οὐ μέτριος ἀλλʼ ὥσθʼ ὑπερβάλλειν σὺν ἐκπλήξει καὶ θαύματι, φαινόμενος, βεβαιῶν δὲ τὸ φιλοῦν καὶ τὸ μισοῦν ὡς κρίσει μᾶλλον ἢ πάθει γιγνόμενον.
7. What, then, is the method of exposing him, and by what differences is it possible to detect that he is not really like-minded, or even in a fair way to become like-minded, but is merely imitating such a character? In the first place, it is necessary to observe the uniformity and permanence of his tastes, whether he always takes delight in the same things, and commends always the same things, and whether he directs and ordains his own life according to one pattern, as becomes a free-born man and a lover of congenial friendship and intimacy; for such is the conduct of a friend. But the flatterer, since he has no abiding-place of character to dwell in, and since he leads a life not of his own choosing but another’s, moulding and adapting himself to suit another, is not simple, not one, but variable and many in one, and, like water that is poured into one receptacle after another, he is constantly on the move from place to place, and changes his shape to fit his receiver. The capture of the ape, as it seems, is effected while he is trying to imitate man by moving and dancing as the man does: but the flatterer himself leads on and entices others, not imitating all persons alike, but with one he joins in dancing and singing, and with another in wrestling and getting covered with dust; if he gets hold of a huntsman fond of the chase, he follows on, all but shouting out the words of Phaedra: “Ye gods, but I yearn to encourage the hounds, As I haste on the track of the dapple deer.” He does not trouble himself in regard to the quarry, but he goes about to net and ensnare the huntsman himself. But if he is on the track of a scholarly and studious young man, now again he is absorbed in books, his beard grows down to his feet, the scholar’s gown is the thing now and a stoic indifference, and endless talk about Plato’s numbers and right-angled triangles. At another time, if some easy-tempered man fall in his way, who is a hard drinker and rich, “Then stands forth the wily Odysseus stripped of his tatters;” off goes the scholar’s gown, the beard is mowed down like an unprofitable crop; it’s wine-coolers and glasses now, bursts of laughter while walking in the streets, and frivolous jokes against the devotees of philosophy. Just so at Syracuse, it is said, after Plato had arrived, and an insane ardour for philosophy laid hold on Dionysius, the king’s palace was filled with dust by reason of the multitude of men that were drawing their geometrical diagrams in it: but when Plato fell out of favour, and Dionysius, shaking himself free from philosophy, returned post-haste to wine and women and foolish talk and licentiousness, then grossness and forgetfulness and fatuity seized upon the whole people as though they had undergone a transformation in Circe’s house. A further testimony is to be found in the action of the great flatterers and the demagogues, of whom the greatest was Alcibiades. At Athens he indulged in frivolous jesting, kept a racing-stable, and led a life full of urbanity and agreeable enjoyment; in Lacedaemon he kept his hair cropped close, he wore the coarsest clothing, he bathed in cold water; in Thrace he was a fighter and a hard drinker: but when he came to Tissaphernes, he took to soft living, and luxury, and pretentiousness. So by making himself like to all these people and conforming his way to theirs he tried to conciliate them and win their favour. Not of this type, however, was Epameinondas or Agesilaus, who, although they had to do with a very large number of men and cities and modes of life, yet maintained everywhere their own proper character in dress, conduct, language, and life. So, too, Plato in Syracuse was the same sort of man as in the Academy, and to Dionysius he was the same as to Dion.
7. πῶς οὖν ἐλέγχεται καὶ τίσιν ἁλίσκεται διαφοραῖς, οὐκ ὢν ὅμοιος οὐδὲ γιγνόμενος ἀλλὰ μιμούμενος ὅμοιον; πρῶτον μὲν ὁρᾶν δεῖ τὴν ὁμαλότητα τῆς προαιρέσεως καὶ τὸ ἐνδελεχές, εἰ χαίρει τε τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἀεὶ καὶ ταὐτὰ ἐπαινεῖ καὶ πρὸς ἓν ἀπευθύνει καὶ καθίστησι παράδειγμα τὸν ἑαυτοῦ βίον, ὥσπερ ἐλευθέρῳ φιλίας ὁμοιοτρόπου καὶ συνηθείας ἐραστῇ προσήκει. τοιοῦτος γὰρ ὁ φίλος. ὁ δὲ κόλαξ ἅτε δὴ μίαν ἑστίαν ἤθους οὐκ ἔχων μόνιμον οὐδʼ ἑαυτῷ βίον ζῶν αἱρετόν, ἀλλʼ ἑτέρῳ καὶ πρὸς ἕτερον πλάττων καὶ προσαρμόττων ἑαυτόν, οὐχ ἁπλοῦς οὐδʼ εἷς ἀλλὰ παντοδαπός ἐστι καὶ ποικίλος, εἰς ἄλλον ἐξ ἄλλου τόπον ὥσπερ τὸ μετερώμενον ὕδωρ περιρρέων ἀεὶ καὶ συσχηματιζόμενος τοῖς ὑποδεχομένοις. ὁ μὲν γὰρ πίθηκος, ὡς ἔοικε μιμεῖσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπιχειρῶν ἁλίσκεται συγκινούμενος καὶ συνορχούμενος, ὁ δὲ κόλαξ αὐτὸς ἑτέρους ἐπάγεται καὶ παλεύει, μιμούμενος οὐχ ὁμοίως ἅπαντας ἀλλὰ τῷ μὲν συνορχούμενος καὶ συνᾴδων, τῷ δὲ συμπαλαίων καὶ συγκονιόμενος θηρατικοῦ δὲ καὶ κυνηγετικοῦ λαβόμενος μονονοὺ τὰ τῆς Φαίδρας ἀναβοῶν ἕπεταιπρὸς θεῶν ἔραμαι κυσὶ θωΰξαιβαλιαῖς ἐλάφοις ἐγχριπτόμενος,καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ πρᾶγμα πρὸς τὸ θηρίον, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸν ἐκσαγηνεύει καὶ περιβάλλεται τὸν κυνηγόν. ἂν δὲ θηρεύῃ φιλόλογον καὶ φιλομαθῆ νέον, αὖθις ἐν βιβλίοις ἐστὶ καὶ πώγων ποδήρης καθεῖται καὶ τριβωνοφορία τὸ χρῆμα καὶ ἀδιαφορία, καὶ διὰ στόματος οἵ τε ἀριθμοὶ καὶ τὰ ὀρθογώνια τρίγωνα Πλάτωνος. εἴ τε ῥᾴθυμός τις ἐμπέπαικεν αὖθις καὶ φιλοπότης καὶ πλούσιος,αὐτὰρ ὁ γυμνώθη ῥακέων πολύμητις Ὀδυσσεύς,ἔρριπται μὲν ὁ τρίβων, κατακείρεται δʼ ὁ πώγων ὥσπερ ἄκαρπον θέρος, ψυκτῆρες δὲ καὶ φιάλαι καὶ γέλωτες ἐν περιπάτοις καὶ σκώμματα πρὸς τοὺς φιλοσοφοῦντας, ὥσπερ ἐν Συρακούσαις φασίν, ὁπηνίκα Πλάτων ἀφίκετο, καὶ Διονύσιον ζῆλος ἔσχε περιμανὴς φιλοσοφίας, τὰ βασίλεια κονιορτοῦ γέμειν ὑπὸ πλήθους τῶν γεωμετρούντων· ἐπεὶ δὲ προσέκρουσε Πλάτων, καὶ Διονύσιος ἐκπεσὼν φιλοσοφίας πάλιν εἰς πότους καὶ γύναια καὶ τὸ ληρεῖν καὶ ἀκολασταίνειν ἧκε φερόμενος, ἀθρόως ἅπαντας ὥσπερ ἐν Κίρκης μεταμορφωθέντας ἀμουσία καὶ λήθη καὶ εὐήθεια κατέσχε. μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ τῶν μεγάλων ἔργα κολάκων καὶ τὰ τῶν δημαγωγῶν, ὧν ὁ μέγιστος Ἀλκιβιάδης, Ἀθήνησι μὲν σκώπτων καὶ ἱπποτροφῶν καὶ μετʼ εὐτραπελίας ζῶν καὶ χάριτος, ἐν δὲ Λακεδαίμονι, κειρόμενος ἐν χρῷ καὶ τριβωνοφορῶν καὶ ψυχρολουτῶν, ἐν δὲ Θρᾴκῃ πολεμῶν καὶ πίνων, ἐπεὶ δὲ πρὸς Τισσαφέρνην ἀφίκετο, τρυφῇ καὶ ἁβρότητι καὶ ἀλαζονείᾳ χρώμενος, ἐδημαγώγει καὶ καθωμίλει τῷ συναφομοιοῦν καὶ συνοικειοῦν ἑαυτὸν ἅπασιν. οὐ μὴν τοιοῦτος Ἐπαμεινώνδας οὐδʼ Ἀγησίλαος, ἀλλὰ πλείστοις ὁμιλήσαντες ἀνθρώποις καὶ πόλεσι καὶ βίοις τὸ προσῆκον ἦθος αὑτοῖς πανταχοῦ καὶ στολῇ καὶ διαίτῃ καὶ λόγῳ καὶ βίῳ διεφύλαττον. οὕτω καὶ Πλάτων ἐν Συρακούσαις οἷος ἐν Ἀκαδημείᾳ, καὶ πρὸς Διονύσιον οἷος πρὸς Δίωνα.
8. The changes of the flatterer, which are like those of a cuttle-fish, may be most easily detected if a man pretends that he is very changeable himself and disapproves the mode of life which he previously approved, and suddenly shows a liking for actions, conduct, or language which used to offend him. For he will see that the flatterer is nowhere constant, has no character of his own, that it is not because of his own feelings that he loves and hates, and rejoices and grieves, but that, like a mirror, he only catches the images of alien feelings, lives and movements. For he is the kind of man, who, if you chance to blame one of your friends before him, will exclaim, “You’ve been slow in discovering the man’s character; for my part I took a dislike to him long ago.” But if, on the next occasion, you change about again and commend the man, then you may be sure the flatterer will avow that he shares your pleasure and thanks you for the man’s sake, and that he believes in him. If you say that you must adopt some other sort of life, as, for example, by changing from public life to ease and quietness, then he says, “Yes, we ought long ago to have secured release from turmoils and jealousies.” But again if you appear to be bent on public activity and speaking, then he chimes in, “Your thoughts are worthy of you; ease is a pleasant thing, but it is inglorious and mean.” Without more ado we must say to such a man: “Stranger, you seem to me now a different man than aforetime.” I have no use for a friend that shifts about just as I do and nods assent just as I do (for my shadow better performs that function), but I want one that tells the truth as I do, and decides for himself as I do. This is one method, then, of detecting the flatterer;
8. τὰς δὲ τοῦ κόλακος ὥσπερ πολύποδος τροπὰς ῥᾷστα φωράσειεν ἄν τις αὐτὸς ἐπὶ πολλὰ δοκῶν τρέπεσθαι, καὶ ψέγων μὲν ὃν ἐπῄνει πρότερον βίον, οἷς δʼ ἤχθετο πράγμασιν ἢ διαίταις ἢ λόγοις ὡς ἀρέσκοντας ἐξαίφνης προσιέμενος. ὄψεται γὰρ αὐτὸν οὐδαμοῦ βέβαιον οὐδʼ ἴδιον οὐδʼ οἰκείῳ πάθει φιλοῦντα καὶ μισοῦντα καὶ χαίροντα καὶ λυπούμενον, ἀλλὰ δίκην κατόπτρου παθῶν ὀθνείων καὶ βίων καὶ κινημάτων εἰκόνας ἀναδεχόμενον. τοιοῦτος γὰρ οἷος, εἰ ψέγοις τινὰ τῶν φίλων πρὸς αὐτόν, εἰπεῖν βραδέως πεφώρακας τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ἐμοὶ μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲ πρότερον ἤρεσκεν ἂν. δʼ αὖ πάλιν ἐπαινῇς μεταβαλόμενος, νὴ Δία φήσει συνήδεσθαι καὶ χάριν ἔχειν αὐτὸς ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ πιστεύειν. ἂν δὲ βίον ἀλλακτέον ἕτερον εἴπῃς, οἷον εἰς ἀπραγμοσύνην καὶ ἡσυχίαν ἐκ πολιτείας μεταβαλόμενος, πάλαι γʼ ἐχρῆν φησὶ θορύβων ἡμᾶς ἀπηλλάχθαι καὶ φθόνων ἂν δὲ πάλιν ὁρμᾶν δοκῇς ἐπὶ τὸ πράττειν καὶ λέγειν, ὑπεφώνησεν ἄξια σαυτοῦ φρονεῖς· ἡ δʼ ἀπραγμοσύνη γλυκὺ μέν, ἀλλʼ ἄδοξον καὶ ταπεινόν εὐθὺς οὖν λέγειν χρὴ πρὸς τὸν τοιοῦτονἀλλοῖός μοι, ξεῖνε, φάνης νέον ἠὲ πάροιθενοὐ δέομαι φίλου συμμεθισταμένου καὶ συνεπινεύοντος γὰρ σκιὰ ταῦτα ποιεῖ μᾶλλον, ἀλλὰ συναληθεύοντος καὶ συνεπικρίνοντος. εἷς μὲν οὖν τῶν ἐλέγχων τρόπος τοιοῦτός ἐστιν·
9. but here follows a second point of difference which ought to be observed, in his habits of imitation. The true friend is neither an imitator of everything nor ready to commend everything, but only the best things; “His nature ’tis to share not hate but love,” as Sophocles has it, and most assuredly to share also in right conduct and in love for the good, not in error and evil-doing, unless, as a result of association and close acquaintance, an emanation and infection, like that which comes from a diseased eye, contaminate him against his will with a touch of baseness or error. In a similar way it is said that close acquaintances used to copy Plato’s stoop, Aristotle’s lisp, and King Alexander’s twisted neck as well as the harshness of his voice in conversation. In fact, some people unconsciously acquire most of their peculiarities from the traits or the lives of others. But the flatterer’s case is exactly the same as that of the chameleon. For the chameleon can make himself like to every colour except white, and the flatterer, being utterly incapable of making himself like to another in any quality that is really worth while, leaves no shameful thing unimitated; but even as bad painters, who by reason of incompetence are unable to attain to the beautiful, depend upon wrinkles, moles, and scars to bring out their resemblances, so the flatterer makes himself an imitator of licentiousness, superstition, passionate anger, harshness toward servants, and distrust toward household and kinsmen. For by nature he is of himself prone to the worse, and he seems very far removed from disapproving what is shameful, since he imitates it. In fact it is those who follow a higher ideal and show distress and annoyance at the errors of their friends, who fall under suspicion. This is the thing that brought Dion into disfavour with Dionysius, Samius with Philip, Cleomenes with Ptolemy, and finally brought about their undoing. But the flatterer, desiring to be and to seem pleasant and loyal at the same time, affects to take greater delight in the worse things, as one who for the great love he bears will take no offence even at what is base, but feels with his friend and shares his nature in all things. For this reason flatterers will not be denied a share even in the chances of life which happen without our will; but they flatter the sickly by pretending to be afflicted with the same malady, and not to be able to see or hear distinctly if they have to do with those who are dim-sighted or hard of hearing, just as the flatterers of Dionysius, whose sight was failing, used to bump against one another and upset the dishes at dinner. And some seize upon afflictions rather as a means to insinuate themselves still more, and carry their fellow-feeling so far as to include inmost secrets. If they know, for example, that one or another is unfortunate in his marriage, or suspicious towards his sons or his household, they do not spare themselves, but lament over their own children or wife or kinsmen or household, divulging certain secret faults of theirs. For such similarity makes fellow-feeling stronger, so that the others, conceiving themselves to have received pledges, are more inclined to let out some of their own secrets to the flatterers, and having so done they take up with them, and are afraid to abandon the confidential relation. I personally know of one man who put away his wife after his friend had sent his own away; but he was caught visiting her in secret and sending messages to her after his friend’s wife had got wind of what was going on. Quite unacquainted with a flatterer, then, was he who thought that these iambic verses applied to a flatterer rather than to a crab: “His body is all belly; eyes that look All ways; a beast that travels on its teeth.” For such a description is that of a parasite, one of “The saucepan friends and friends postprandial,” as Eupolis puts it.
9. ἑτέραν δὲ δεῖ ταῖς ὁμοιώσεσι τοιαύτην παραφυλάττειν διαφοράν; ὁ μὲν ἀληθὴς φίλος οὔτε μιμητής ἐστι πάντων οὔτʼ ἐπαινέτης πρόθυμος, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἀρίστων μόνων·οὐ γὰρ συνέχθειν ἀλλὰ συμφιλεῖν ἔφυκατὰ τὸν Σοφοκλέα, καὶ νὴ Δία συγκατορθοῦν καὶ συμφιλοκαλεῖν, οὐ συναμαρτάνειν οὐδὲ συρρᾳδιουργεῖν, ἂν μή τις οἷον ὀφθαλμίας ἀπορροὴ καὶ ἀνάχρωσις ἄκοντα διʼ ὁμιλίαν καὶ συνήθειαν ἀναπλήσῃ φαυλότητος ἢ πλημμελείας τινός. ὥς που καὶ Πλάτωνος ἀπομιμεῖσθαί φασι τοὺς συνήθεις τὸ ἐπίκυρτον, Ἀριστοτέλους δὲ τὸν τραυλισμόν, Ἀλεξάνδρου δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως τὴν ἔγκλισιν τοῦ τραχήλου καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ διαλέγεσθαι τραχύτητα τῆς φωνῆς· τὰ γὰρ πολλὰ λανθάνουσιν ἔνιοι καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἠθῶν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν βίων ἀναλαμβάνοντες. ὁ δὲ κόλαξ ἀτεχνῶς τὸ τοῦ χαμαιλέοντος πέπονθεν. ἐκεῖνός τε γὰρ ἁπάσῃ χρόᾳ πλὴν τοῦ λευκοῦ συναφομοιοῦται, καὶ ὁ κόλαξ ἐν τοῖς ἀξίοις σπουδῆς ὅμοιον ἑαυτὸν ἐξαδυνατῶν παρέχειν οὐδὲν ἀπολείπει τῶν αἰσχρῶν ἀμίμητον, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ οἱ φαῦλοι ζωγράφοι τῶν καλῶν ἐφικνεῖσθαι μὴ δυνάμενοι διʼ ἀσθένειαν ἐν ῥυτίσι καὶ φακοῖς καὶ οὐλαῖς τὰς ὁμοιότητας ἀναφέρουσιν, οὕτως ἐκεῖνος ἀκρασίας γίγνεται μιμητής, ε δεισιδαιμονίας ἀκροχολίας, πικρίας πρὸς οἰκέτας, ἀπιστίας πρὸς οἰκείους καὶ συγγενεῖς. φύσει τε γὰρ ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς τὰ χείρονα κατάντης ἐστί, καὶ δοκεῖ πορρωτάτω τοῦ ψέγειν τὸ αἰσχρὸν εἶναι μιμούμενος. ὕποπτοι γὰρ οἱ τὰ βελτίω ζηλοῦντες καὶ δοκοῦντες ἄχθεσθαι καὶ δυσκολαίνειν τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασι τῶν φίλων· ὃ δὴ καὶ Διονυσίῳ Δίωνα καὶ Σάμιον Φιλίππῳ καὶ Κλεομένη Πτολεμαίῳ διέβαλε καὶ ἀπώλεσεν. ὁ δὲ βουλόμενος εἶναι καὶ δοκεῖν ὁμοίως ἡδὺς ἅμα καὶ πιστὸς τοῖς χείροσι μᾶλλον ὑποκρίνεται χαίρειν, ὡς ὑπὸ τοῦ σφόδρα φιλεῖν οὐδὲ τὰ φαῦλα δυσχεραίνων, ἀλλὰ συμπαθὴς πᾶσι καὶ συμφυὴς γιγνόμενος. ὅθεν οὐδὲ τῶν ἀβουλήτων καὶ τυχηρῶν ἀμοιρεῖν ἀξιοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ νοσεῖν ὅμοια προσποιοῦνται, κολακεύοντες τοὺς νοσώδεις, καὶ μήτε βλέπειν ὀξὺ μήτʼ ἀκούειν, ἂν ὑποτύφλοις ἢ ὑποκώφοις συνῶσιν, ὥσπερ οἱ Διονυσίου κόλακες ἀμβλυωποῦντες ἐμπίπτοντες ἀλλήλοις καὶ τὰς παροψίδας ἐν τῷ δειπνεῖν καταβάλλοντες ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ μᾶλλον ἁπτόμενοι τῶν παθῶν ἐνδοτέρω ποιοῦσιν ἑαυτούς, καὶ καταμιγνύουσιν ἄχρι τῶν ἀπορρήτων τὰς ὁμοιοπαθείας. αἰσθόμενοι γὰρ ἢ περὶ γάμον δυστυχοῦντας ἢ πρὸς υἱοὺς ἢ πρὸς οἰκείους ὑπόπτως ἔχοντας αὐτοὶ σφῶν αὐτῶν ἀφειδοῦσι καὶ ἀποδύρονται περὶ τέκνων ἰδίων ἢ γυναικὸς ἢ συγγενῶν ἢ οἰκείων, αἰτίας τινὰς ἀπορρήτους ἐξαγορεύοντες ἡ γὰρ ὁμοιότης συμπαθεστέρους ποιεῖ, καὶ μᾶλλον ὥσπερ ὅμηρα δεδεγμένοι προΐενταί τι τῶν ἀπορρήτων αὐτοῖς, προέμενοι δὲ χρῶνται καὶ δεδίασιν ἐγκαταλιπεῖν τὴν πίστιν. ἐγὼ δʼ οἶδά τινα συνεκβαλόντα γαμετήν, ὡς ὁ φίλος ἀπεπέμψατο τὴν ἑαυτοῦ· κρύφα δὲ φοιτῶν πρὸς αὐτὴν καὶ διαπεμπόμενος ἐφωράθη; συναισθομένης τῆς τοῦ φίλου γυναικός. οὕτως ἄπειρος ἦν κόλακος ὁ νομίζων τὰ ἰαμβεῖα ταυτὶ· τῷ καρκίνῳ μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ κόλακι προσήκεινγαστὴρ ὅλον τὸ σῶμα, πανταχῆ βλέπωνὀφθαλμός, ἕρπον τοῖς ὀδοῦσι θηρίονπαρασίτου γὰρ ὁ τοιοῦτος εἰκονισμός ἐστιτῶν περὶ τάγηνον καὶ μετʼ ἄριστον φίλων,ὡς Εὔπολίς φησιν.
10. However, let us reserve this matter for its proper place in our discussion. But let us not omit to note this clever turn which the flatterer has in his imitations, that if he does imitate any of the good qualities of the person whom he flatters, he gives him always the upper hand. The reason is this: between true friends there is neither emulation nor envy, but whether their share of success is equal or less, they bear it with moderation and without vexation. But the flatterer, mindful always that he is to play the second part, abates from his equality in the imitation, admitting that he is beaten and distanced in everything save what is bad. In bad things, however, he does not relinquish the first place, but, if the other man is malcontent, he calls himself choleric; if the man is superstitious he says of himself that he is possessed; that the man is in love, but that he himself is mad with passion. “You laughed inopportunely,” he says, “but I nearly died of laughing.” But in good things it is just the reverse. The flatterer says that he himself is a good runner, but the other man simply flies; that he himself is a fairly good horseman, “but what is that compared with this Centaur?” “I am a natural born poet, and I write verse that is not at all bad, yet To Zeus belongs the thunder, not to me.” a Thus at the same time he thinks to show that the other’s tastes are excellent by imitating them, and that his prowess is unrivalled by letting himself be outdone. Thus, then, in the flatterer’s attempts to conform himself to another, differences like these are found which distinguish him from a friend.
10. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀναθώμεθα τοῦ λόγου τόπον· ἐκεῖνο δὲ μὴ παρῶμεν ἐν ταῖς μιμήσεσι τὸ σόφισμα τοῦ κόλακος, ὅτι κἂν τῶν καλῶν τι μιμῆται τοῦ κολακευομένου, διαφυλάττει τὴν ὑπεροχὴν ἐκείνῳ. τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἀληθῶς φίλοις οὔτε ζῆλος οὐδείς ἐστι πρὸς ἀλλήλους οὔτε φθόνος, ἀλλὰ κἂν ἴσον ἔχωσιν ἐν τῷ κατορθοῦν κἂν ἔλαττον, ἀνεπαχθῶς καὶ μετρίως φέρουσιν. ὁ δὲ κόλαξ ἀεὶ μνημονεύων τοῦ τὰ δεύτερα λέγειν ὑφίεται τῇ ὁμοιότητι τῆς ἰσότητος, ἡττᾶσθαι πανταχοῦ καὶ ἀπολείπεσθαι πλὴν τῶν φαύλων ὁμολογῶν. ἐν δὲ τοῖς φαύλοις οὐ παρίησι τὸ πρωτεῖον, ἀλλά φησιν, ἂν ἐκεῖνος δύσκολος, αὑτὸν εἶναι μελαγχολικὸν ἂν ἐκεῖνος δεισιδαίμων, αὑτὸν θεοφόρητον· ἐρᾶν ἐκεῖνον, μαίνεσθαι δʼ αὑτόν. ἀκαίρως φησὶν ἐγέλας, ἐγὼ δʼ ἐξέθνῃσκον ὑπὸ τοῦ γέλωτος. ἀλλʼ ἔν γε τοῖς χρηστοῖς τοὐναντίον. αὐτός φησι ταχέως τρέχειν, ἵπτασθαι δʼ ἐκεῖνον· αὐτὸς ἱππεύειν ἐπιεικῶς, ἀλλὰ τί πρὸς τὸν ἱπποκένταυρον τοῦτον; εὐφυής εἰμι ποιητὴς καὶ στίχον οὐ φαυλότατον γράφω,βροντᾶν δʼ οὐκ ἐμὸν ἀλλὰ Διός.ἅμα γὰρ αὐτοῦ δοκεῖ καὶ τὴν προαίρεσιν ἀποφαίνειν καλὴν μιμούμενος καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἀνέφικτον ἡττώμενος. ἐν μὲν οὖν ταῖς ἐξομοιώσεσι τοιαῦταί τινὲς εἰσιν αἱ τοῦ κόλακος διαφοραὶ πρὸς τὸν φίλον.
11. Since, however, as has been said before, the element of pleasure is common to both (for the good man takes no less delight in his friends than the bad man in his flatterers), let us now, if you will, draw the distinction between them in this respect. The distinction lies in referring the pleasure to its end. Look at it in this way: There is a pleasant odour in a perfume, there is a pleasant odour in a medicine. But the difference is that the former has been created for pleasure and for nothing else, while in the latter the purgative, stimulative, or tissue-building principle that gives it value is only incidentally sweet-smelling. Then again, painters mix bright colours and pigments, and there are also some physicians’ drugs that are bright in appearance, and have a colour that is not repellent. What, then, is the difference? Is it not plain that we shall distinguish them by the end for which they are employed? So, in a similar way, the graciousness of friends, in addition to goodness and profit, possesses also the power of giving pleasure as a sort of efflorescence, and there are times when friends enjoy together jest and food and wine, and indeed even mirth and nonsense, as a sort of spice for noble and serious things. To this purport it has been said: “Joy they had in converse, speaking each to the other ” and “Else there were nothing Which could have parted us twain in the midst of our love and enjoyment.” But the whole work and final aim of the flatterer is always to be serving up some spicy and highlyseasoned jest or prank or story, incited by pleasure and to incite pleasure. To put it in few words, the flatterer thinks he ought to do anything to be agreeable, while the friend, by doing always what he ought to do, is oftentimes agreeable and oftentimes disagreeable, not from any desire to be disagreeable, and yet not attempting to avoid even this if it be better. For he is like a physician, who, if it be for the good of the patient, administers saffron or spikenard, and indeed oftentimes prescribes a grateful bath or generous diet, but there are cases where he lets all these go and drops in a dose of castor, or else of “Polium, pungent to smell, whose stench is surely most horrid,” or he compounds some hellebore and makes a man drink it down, setting neither in this case the disagreeable nor in the other the agreeable as his final aim, but endeavouring through either course to bring his patient to one state—that which is for his good. So it is with the friend; sometimes by constantly exalting and gladdening another with praise and graciousness he leads him on toward that which is honourable, as did he who said “Teucer, dear to my heart, son of Telamon, prince of the people. Aim your other shafts like this,” and “How then, I ask, could I ever forget Odysseus the godlike?” Or again, when there is need of reprehension, he assails with stinging words and all the frankness of a guardian: “Foolish you are, Menelaus, cherished by Zeus; nor is needed Any such folly as this.” There are times, too, when he combines deeds with words, as did Menedemus, who chastened the profligate and disorderly son of his friend Asclepiades by shutting the door upon him and not speaking to him; and Arcesilaus forbade Baton his lecture-room when the latter had composed a comic line on Cleanthes, and it was only when Baton had placated Cleanthes and was repentant that Arcesilaus became reconciled with him. For one ought to hurt a friend only to help him; and ought not by hurting him to kill friendship, but to use the stinging word as a medicine which restores and preserves health in that to which it is applied. Wherefore a friend, like a skilled musician, in effecting a transition to what is noble and beneficial, now relaxes and now tightens a string, and so is often pleasant and always profitable; but the flatterer, being accustomed to play his accompaniment of pleasantness and graciousness in one key only, knows nothing either of acts of resistance or of words that hurt, but is guided by the other’s wish only, and makes every note and utterance to accord with him. As Xenophon says of Agesilaus, that he was glad to be commended by those who were willing to blame him also, so we must regard that which gives delight and joy as true to friendship, if at times it is able also to hurt our feelings and to resist our desires; but we must be suspicious of an association that is confined to pleasures, one whose complaisance is unmixed and without a sting; and we ought in fact to keep in mind the saying of the Spartan, who, when Charillus the king was commended, said, “How can he be a good man, who is not harsh even with rascals?”
11. ἐπεὶ δʼ ὥσπερ εἴρηται καὶ τὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς κοινόν ἐστι (χαίρει γὰρ οὐχ ἧττον τοῖς φίλοις ὁ χρηστὸς ἢ τοῖς κόλαξιν ὁ φαῦλος) φέρε καὶ τοῦτο διορίσωμεν. ἔστι δὲ διορισμὸς ἡ πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἀναφορὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς. σκόπει δʼ οὕτως. ἔνεστι μέν που τῷ μύρῳ τὸ εὐῶδες, ἔνεστι δʼ ἐν ἀντιδότῳ. διαφέρει δʼ ὅτι τοῦτο μὲν πρὸς ἡδονὴν καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν ἕτερον γέγονεν, ἐκεῖ δὲ τὸ καθαῖρον ἢ τὸ θερμαῖνον ἢ τὸ σαρκοῦν τῆς δυνάμεως ἄλλως εὐῶδές ἐστι. πάλιν οἱ γραφεῖς ἀνθηρὰ. χρώματα καὶ βάμματα μιγνύουσιν, ἔστι δὲ καὶ τῶν ἰατρικῶν φαρμάκων ἔνια τὴν ὄψιν ἀνθηρὰ καὶ τὴν χρόαν οὐκ ἀπάνθρωπον ἔχοντα. τί τοίνυν διαφέρει; ἦ δῆλον ὅτι τῷ τέλει τῆς χρείας διακρινοῦμεν. οὐκοῦν ὁμοίως αἱ μὲν τῶν φίλων χάριτες ἐπὶ καλῷ τινι καὶ ὠφελίμῳ τὸ εὐφραῖνον ὥσπερ ἐπανθοῦν ἔχουσιν, ἔστι δʼ ὅτε καὶ παιδιᾷ καὶ τραπέζῃ καὶ οἴνῳ καὶ νὴ Δία γέλωτι καὶ φλυάρῳ πρὸς ἀλλήλους οἷον ἡδύσμασιν ἐχρήσαντο τῶν καλῶν καὶ σπουδαίων. πρὸς ὃ δὴ καὶ λέλεκται τὸμύθοισιν τέρποντο πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐνέποντεςκαὶ τὸ οὐδέ κεν ἄλλο ἄμμε διέκρινεν φιλέοντέ τε τερπομένω τε τοῦ δὲ κόλακος τοῦτʼ ἔργον ἐστὶ καὶ τέλος, ἀεί τινα παιδιὰν ἢ πρᾶξιν ἢ λόγον ἐφʼ ἡδονῇ καὶ πρὸς ἡδονὴν ὀψοποιεῖν καὶ καρυκεύειν. συνελόντι δʼ εἰπεῖν ὁ μὲν ἵνʼ ἡδὺς πάντα δεῖν οἴεται ποιεῖν, ὁ δʼ ἀεὶ ποιῶν ἃ δεῖ πολλάκις μὲν ἡδὺς πολλάκις δʼ ἀηδής ἐστιν, οὐ τοῦτο βουλόμενος, εἰ δὲ βέλτιον εἴη, μηδὲ τοῦτο φεύγων. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἰατρός, ἂν συμφέρῃ, κρόκον ἢ νάρδον ἐπέβαλε καὶ νὴ Δία πολλάκις ἔλουσε προσηνῶς καὶ ἔθρεψε φιλανθρώπως, ἔστι δʼ ὅπου ταῦτʼ ἐάσας καστόριον ἐνέσεισενἢ πόλιον βαρύοσμον ὃ δὴ ῥίγιστον ὄδωδενἤ τινα ἐλλέβορον ἐκπιεῖν τρίψας ἠνάγκασεν, οὔτʼ ἐνταῦθα τὸ ἀηδὲς οὔτʼ ἐκεῖ τὸ ἡδὺ ποιούμενος τέλος ἀλλʼ ἐφʼ ἓν διʼ ἀμφοτέρων ἐπὶ τὸ συμφέρον ἄγων τὸν θεραπευόμενον, οὕτως ὁ φίλος ἔστι μὲν ὅτε σὺν ἐπαίνῳ καὶ χάριτι μεγαλύνων καὶ εὐφραίνων ἄγει πρὸς τὸ καλόν, ὥσπερ οὗτος Τεῦκρε, φίλη κεφαλή, Τελαμώνιε, κοίρανε λαῶν, βάλλʼ οὕτωʼπῶς ἂν ἔπειτʼ Ὀδυσῆος ἐγὼ θείοιο λαθοίμην;ὅπου δʼ αὖ πάλιν ἐπιστροφῆς δεῖται, λόγῳ δήκτῃ καὶ παρρησίᾳ κηδεμονικῇ καθαπτόμενοςἀφραίνεις, Μενέλαε διοτρεφές, οὐδὲ τί σε χρὴταύτης ἀφροσύνηςἔστι δʼ ὅπου καὶ τὸ ἔργον ἅμα τῷ λόγῳ συνῆψεν, ὡς Μενέδημος Ἀσκληπιάδου τοῦ φίλου τὸν υἱὸν ἄσωτον ὄντα καὶ ἄτακτον ἀποκλείων καὶ μὴ προσαγορεύων ἐσωφρόνισε, καὶ Βάτωνι τὴν σχολὴν ἀπεῖπεν Ἀρκεσίλαος, ὅτε πρὸς Κλεάνθην στίχον ἐποίησεν ἐν κωμῳδίᾳ, πείσαντος δὲ τὸν Κλεάνθην καὶ μεταμελομένου διηλλάγη. δεῖ γὰρ ὠφελοῦντα λυπεῖν τὸν φίλον, οὐ δεῖ δὲ λυποῦντα τὴν φιλίαν ἀναιρεῖν, ἀλλʼ ὡς φαρμάκῳ τῷ δάκνοντι χρῆσθαι, σῴζοντι καὶ φυλάττοντι τὸ θεραπευόμενον. ὅθεν ὥσπερ ἁρμονικὸς ὁ φίλος τῇ πρὸς τὸ καλὸν καὶ συμφέρον μεταβολῇ τὰ μὲν ἐνδιδοὺς ἃ δʼ ἐπιτείνων πολλάκις μὲν ἡδὺς ἀεὶ δʼ ὠφέλιμός ἐστι. ὁ δὲ κόλαξ ἀφʼ ἑνὸς διαγράμματος ἀεὶ τὸ ἡδὺ καὶ τὸ πρὸς χάριν εἰωθὼς ὑποκρέκειν οὔτʼ ἔργον οἶδεν ἀντιτεῖνον οὔτε ῥῆμα λυποῦν, ἀλλὰ μόνῳ παρέπεται τῷ βουλομένῳ, συνᾴδων ἀεὶ καὶ συμφθεγγόμενος ὥσπερ οὖν τὸν Ἀγησίλαον ὁ Ξενοφῶν ἡδέως ἐπαινεῖσθαί φησιν ὑπὸ τῶν καὶ ψέγειν ἐθελόντων, οὕτω δεῖ τὸ εὐφραῖνον καὶ χαριζόμενον ἡγεῖσθαι φιλικόν, ἂν καὶ λυπεῖν ποτε δύνηται καὶ ἀντιτείνειν, τὴν δὲ συνεχῆ ταῖς ἡδοναῖς καὶ τὸ πρὸς χάριν ἔχουσαν ἄκρατον ἀεὶ καὶ ἄδηκτον ὁμιλίαν ὑπονοεῖν, καὶ νὴ Δία τὸ τοῦ Λάκωνος ἔχειν πρόχειρον, ὃς ἐπαινουμένου Χαρίλλου τοῦ βασιλέως πῶς οὗτος ἔφη χρηστός, ὃς οὐδὲ τοῖς πονηροῖς πικρός ἐστι;