Quod adulatores multiplicati sunt super nume
The Plague of Flattery
The author introduces the pervasive and destructive nature of flatterers who infiltrate distinguished circles to serve their own greed.
They drive honest people who aren't like them out of distinguished homes. Yet this plague has now grown so strong, with the Lord’s displeasure, that if it ever comes to a conflict, I fear they can drive out modest and good men more easily than they can be driven out themselves. For this foul filth and cancerous disease creeps into everyone, so that there is no one, or hardly anyone, whom this stain does not corrupt. Everyone desires the goodwill of those they live with; this isn't just lawful but honorable, as it's something produced by nature, the parent of virtues and the best guide for living rightly. But when this affection abandons the rule of moderation, it is carried headlong, rushing through everything—what should be done and what shouldn't, through infamy and good reputation alike—a hunter of favor, a corrupt solicitor of grace, so that once it has won over a friend with flattery, it acts like a prostitute to steal his fortune, drain his resources, gather another’s spoils for itself, and turn everything to its own profit. The result is that no servile compliance is too burdensome for them, and no obsequiousness seems too indecent; they take on the roles of every office, all while fraudulently snatching up everyone else's rewards. For who are they who shine in fine clothes, who walk about with their heads held high, who are surrounded by a retinue of followers, who are whitewashed by the service of comrades and companions, who boast of the first greetings in the marketplace, who take the places of honor at dinners, whose ears are soothed by the balm of titles, and to whom the soft ears of the noble are opened, who are carried and lifted to the heights by the wings of fortune’s favor, and from whom any great house draws the pattern of its own arrangement and borrows its habits? They are, of course, the flatterers, who live at another’s beck and call while they fraudulently milk them dry.
The Bitter Truth vs. The Sweet Lie
Truth is contrasted with the deceptive sweetness of flattery, which undermines integrity and faith.
Truth is harsh and often causes trouble when it refuses to flatter anyone. Its bitterness is actually more pleasing to a sound mind than the dripping honeycomb of a harlot's tongue. As holy Solomon testifies, the wounds of a friend are better than the fraudulent kisses of a flatterer. Why wouldn't they be? Faithfulness is always preferred over treachery. Faith cannot remain intact when one thing is done and another is feigned, especially when there is an intent and desire to do harm. If we follow the Stoics, faith is defined by the fact that what is said is actually done. My light, my salvation, my refuge, my heart and my life, invincible leader, wisest of the living, most generous and kind of all, pattern of living, mirror of virtue—when these and other such things are thrust upon someone inappropriately, aren't they full not so much of the vice of flattery as of its poison?
The Hidden Trap
Flattery is exposed as a dangerous trap that masquerades as friendship to enslave the unsuspecting.
There are, in fact, those who don't even avoid the appearance of a sycophant when they profess friendship. As the wise man says, poison is never administered unless it's coated in honey. And there are no traps more hidden than those that lie in the pretense of duty or under some name of close connection. You think it's service, you suspect it's friendship, you measure it as affection—but they are traps. And, as it is in the stories (since even the lies of poets serve the truth), Juno would not have driven Semele, once deceived, into the fire if she hadn't put on the face of a nurse and faked affection. You believe you're being served; you're actually being subjected to the most extreme and miserable slavery. When a little of the poison of nature and vice drips into an easy ear, I'd be lost if it didn't drive away anyone who speaks the truth, having disdained to bear the mark of flattery. They are cast out at the threshold—and it's a good thing if they aren't judged an enemy—who not only contradict the pleasures of a powerful friend, even the shameful ones, but don't even consent to them.
The Cost of Integrity
The author laments the difficulty of maintaining integrity in a world that demands total sycophancy and blind agreement.
In fact, mere agreement isn't enough to win favor; you have to approve, commend, and applaud the madman. Even when he does everything wrong, you must praise him as if he’d done a great job. Just as a meeting of minds is a sign of love, so is disagreement a sign of enmity, and each person is judged guilty by it. Hence the satirist asks, "What would I do in Rome?" I don't know how to lie. If a book is bad, I can't praise it or ask for it. I know nothing of the movements of the stars. I neither want to nor can I promise a father's funeral. I have never examined the entrails of frogs. Others know how to carry to a married woman what an adulterer sends or commands. No one will be a thief with my help, and so I don't go out as anyone's companion, like a crippled man or a body useless to a dead right hand. I flee, therefore, from a city full of such obscenities; I leave it to its own flatterers, poisoned by the venom of flattery. Let Arturius and Catulus live there; let those who turn black into white stay. And yet, don't think these vices are depicted only in one city; they belong to the whole world now. Believe that this applies to the Roman world as well. I remember hearing that the Roman Pontiff used to mock the Lombards, saying they would tip their hats to everyone they spoke to, because they would try to capture goodwill at the start of their speech and smooth over the heads of those they were dealing with using a certain oil of commendation.
A Call to Separation
The chapter concludes with a scriptural warning to avoid the paths of those who plot evil and destruction.
“My son,” says Solomon, “if sinners try to win you over, don't give in to them.” For they are lying in wait against their own blood, and they plot frauds against their own souls. Keep your feet away from their paths. For their feet run toward evil, and they hurry to shed blood.
Read the original Latin
rum, et a praeclaris domibus honestos et dissimiles sui expellunt. Haec tamen pestis iam in tantum Domino indignante inualuit ut, si uentum forte fuerit ad conflictum, uereor ne modestos et bonos uiros possint facilius expellere quam expelli. Serpit enim illuuio feda et morbus cancerosus in omnes, ut nullus aut rarus sit quem labes ista non maculet. Omnes enim affectant beniuolentiam eorum cum quibus uiuitur; quod quidem non modo licitum est sed honestum, utpote omnia, quae natura uirtutum parens et recte uiuendi dux optima gignit. Sed dum hanc affectionem moderationis regula deserit, fertur in praeceps discurrensque per omnia agenda et non agenda, per infamiam et bonam famam, fauoris auceps, gratiae sollicitator incestus, ut cum amicum blanditiis praecomiperit, more meretricantis fortunam subripiat, extenuet facultates, aliena in se congerat spolia, et suum omnia conuertat ad lucrum. Efficitur ergo ut nulla a sit ei molesta seruilis obsecundatio, nullum indecens uideatur obsequium, omnium officiorum personas induit, dum praemia omnium fraudulenter praeripiat. Qui sunt enim qui uestibus nitent, qui fastigiati incedunt, qui sequipedarum stipantur comitatu, commilitonum et contubemalium dealbantur obsequio, qui primis salutationibus in foro gloriantur, qui primos recubitus habent in cenis, quorum aures mulcentur fomento praenominum et quibus nobilium molles reserantur auriculae, quos fortunae gratia alarum suarum remigio ad sullimia subuehit et extollit et a quibus qua libet magna domus dispositionis suae formulam trahit et habitum mutuatur? Nempe adulatores, qui alienum uiuunt ad nutum dum eos fraudulenter emungant.
Veritas aspera est et plenimque molestiam parit, dum aliquem palpare dedignatur. Venim amaritudo eius utiKor est et int€gris sensibus gratior quam meretricantis linguae distillans fauus. Meliora siquidem sunt (sancto Salomone testante) amici uerbera quam fraudulenta oscula blandientis. Quidni? Fides enim semper perfidiae antef ertur. Non manet fides incolumis ubi aliud agitur et aliud simulatur praesertim animo et uoluntate nocendi. Dicitur enim fides, si sequimur Stoicos, eo quod fiat quod dictum est. Lux mea, salus mea, refugium meum, cor meum et uita mea, dux inuicte, uiuentium sapientissime, omnium largissime et benignissime, uiuendi forma, uirtutis speculum, et cetera huiusmodi importune ingesta, nonne plena sunt non tam adulationis uitio quam ueneno?
Sunt enim qui nec scurrantis speciem uitant, cum amicitiam profitentur. Venena, inquit sapiens, non dantur nisi melle circumlita. Nullaeque occultiores sunt insidiae quam hae quafe latent in simulatione officii aut aliquo necessitudinis nomine. Tu obsequium putas, amicitiam suspicaris, metiris affectum; insidiae sunt. Nec, ut est in fabulis (quoniam et mendacia poetarum seruiunt ueritati), luno Semelen deceptam in incendium impulisset, si non esset nutricis induta faciem et mentita affectum. Tibi credis impendi famulatum; extremae et miserrimae subiceris seruituti. Nam cum facilem distillat in aurem exiguum de naturae uitiique ueneno, dispeream ni summoueat omnes qui uera loquuntur dedignati assentationis subire notam. Limine summouetur, et bene si non iudieatur inimicus, qui potentis amici uoluptatibus etiam turpioribus non modo contradicit, sed etiam non consentit.
Et quidem nec consensus ad gratiam sufficit, approbare commendare applaudere insanienti necesse est; cum omnia malefecerit, laudandus est quasi re bene gesta. Sicut enim identitas uoluntatum amoris indicium est, sic exdissensu inimicitiarum quisque reus arguitur. Proinde satiricus inquit: Quid faciam Romae? Mentiri nescio; librum, si malus est, nequeo laudare et poscere; motus astronim ignoro; funus promittere patris nec uolo nec possum; ranarum uiscera numquam a inspexi; ferre ad nuptam quae mittit adulter, quae mandat, norunt alii; me nemo ministro fur erit, atque ideo nulli comes exeo, tamquam mancus et extinctae corpus non utile dextrae. Fugio ergo urbem tantis obscenitatibus plenam; adulatorum ueneficio toxicatam suis adulatoribus derelinquo. Viuant Arturius istic et Catulus; maneant qui nigrum in candida uertunt. Nec tamen unius urbis tantum uitia depingi credas; iam totius orbis sunt. Quod ad istud orbem Romanum crede; memini me audisse Romanum pontificem solitum deridere Lumbardos, dicentem eos pilleum omnibus colloquentibus facere, eo quod in exordio dictionis beniuolentiam captent, et eorum cum quibus agitur, capita quodam commendationis demulceant oleo.
Fili mi, inquit Salomon, si te lactauerint peccatores, ne adquiescas eis. Ipsi enim contra sanguinem suum insidiantur, et moliuntur fraudes contra animas suas. Prohibe pedem tuum a semitis eorum. Pedes enim eorum ad malimi currunt, et festinant ut efiundant sanguinem.
Policraticus companion
Study the argument weekly; pray the tradition daily
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