Decimum capitulum, de malo adulationis, per exemplum cameleontis et polipodis.
The Chameleon as Mirror of Flatterers
The chameleon, an animal that shifts its colors with ease, is introduced as a living image of those who flatter.
But before I move on to the rest, the nature of the chameleon presents itself on account of the flatteries of certain people. The chameleon is in fact an animal sprinkled with a variety of color, whose body is changed with the very easiest shift into the color and appearance opposite to itself; by nature a gentle creature, though when it is weakened it pretends to be gentle.
Courtiers Who Change Color with Every Wish
Those who dwell in royal houses conform themselves to every desire, shifting立场 with detractors and flatterers alike.
It designates those who live in the houses of kings and dress in soft garments, who, because they desire to please the soft, conform themselves to the wishes of everyone, and having changed with the easiest shift, they alternate various colors. With those who detract, they detract; with those who flatter, they flatter; and the one they earlier suppressed by blaming, if a praiser is present, they praise him too.
Hidden Cruelty Beneath the Flatterer's Mask
Flatterers conceal venom in their hearts that emerges the moment power is granted, just as a serpent's poison is hidden in winter but revealed in summer.
And these men, as long as they hold no power, flatter everyone in this way and persist in immoderate flattery; but if it happens that they gain the power they desire, the cruelty that lay hidden in their hearts, once opportunity presents itself, they immediately reveal — because a serpent has no less venom in winter than in summer, but in the cold of winter it lies hidden, which in the heat of summer is plain to see.
The Polyp's Deceit and the Inconstant Courtier
Like the polyp that mimics a rock to lure fish, flatterers adapt their behavior to every person they encounter, showing no fixed purpose or virtue.
This too is the cunning of the deceitful polyp, which, when it embraces some rock with its outstretched tentacles, takes on that rock's color; and many fish, having drifted there imprudently, are deceived, dragging themselves toward it as toward a simple rock, at once offering the deceiver an easy capture of themselves. Such are those who, obsequious to the powerful, are changed by the constant shifting of an inconstant mind. Not persisting in one purpose, they show themselves now as one sort, now as another — practicing modesty with the chaste, luxury with the lustful, and altogether, as the mind of each person is, so they adapt their own behavior.
Read the original Latin
Sed antequam procedam ad caetera, propter adulationes quorumdam occurrit cameleontis natura. Est enim caméléon animal coloris varietate conspersum, cujus corpus facillima conversione mutatur in colorem sibi oppositum et aspectum; animal naturaliter mansuetum, licet quando infîrmatur se esse simulet mansuetum. Eos designat qui in domibus regum sunt et mollibus vestiuntur, qui dum mollibus placere cupiunt, voluntatibus omnium se conformant, et facillima conversione mutati varios colores alternant. Cum detrahentibus detrahunt, cum adulantibus adulantur, et eum quem prius vituperando depresserunt, si affuerit laudans, et ipsi collaudant. Et lui homines quamdiu fuerint nulla potestate praediti, sic omnibus blandiuntur, et immoderatae insistunt adulationi, sed si potestatem eos habere contigerit, quam affectant crudelitatem quae latebat in eorum cordibus, oportunitate nacta, continuo manifestant, quia non minus habet veneni serpens in hyeme quam in aestate, sed in frigore latet hyemis quod in fervore patet aestatis. Haec etiam est caliditas polipodis fraudulenti qui, cum aliquod saxum porrectis crinibus amplexatur, illius assumât colorem, multique pisces illuc imprudenter allapsi veluti ad petram simpliciter se trahentes decipiuntur, facilem sui captionem maligno protinus exhibentes. Taies sunt qui potentibus obsequentes assiduae mentis varietate mutantur. Nec in uno proposito perdurantes alios atque alios se demonstrant, pudicitiam cum castis, luxuriam cum libidinosis exercentes, et omnino ut cujusque mens fuerit ita proprios aptant mores.
Eruditio regum et principum (Education of Kings and Princes) companion
Louis IX kept a daily rule of reading. Keep yours.
After day 21, Chosen Portion keeps the habit going with one historic devotional portion each morning, free on iOS.
Guibert formed Louis IX through short scheduled installments, and Chosen Portion delivers formation in the same daily-installment pattern.
- One reading and prayer per day, about 3 minutes
- Continue with 78 royal and monastic works after the plan ends
- Reflection questions suited to reading with a teen or small group