Fravdem adulatorum in initio uitandam, et
The Deceptive Allure of Flattery
The author warns against the initial, honeyed traps of flatterers who seek to exploit the soul's greed.
It works most powerfully through gifts or the difficulty of services. Consider how the wisest man, in instructing his son, makes the favor of flatterers suspect to everyone and warns them away—and he does this right from the start, perhaps because the first encounter with flatterers attacks the one walking the right path. This is perhaps the prostitute whose flight he commands. He says, 'The lips of a prostitute drip honey, and her throat is smoother than oil.' But her end is as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a two-edged sword. It is assumed, unless you temper the soul—which is inflamed by the fire of greed—with the refreshment of frequent visitation, and soothe the constant hunger of avarice with the frequent interposition of benefits. It is said that the nature of eagles is such that, when they have gorged their stomachs with a fuller meal, they suspend their hunger for the fifteenth day or (as others think) for the fortieth, and reject the abundance of offered food, content with a single satisfaction. Certainly, the condition of the rich is far different—or rather, the condition of those who prostitute grace for sale.
The Marketplace of False Friendship
True grace and friendship are contrasted with the transactional, profit-driven relationships of those who mask their greed.
They draw closer to people who have needs, because they are hungry and need to be fed often. They can barely hold back their hunger for forty days without getting angry at their friends if they haven't filled the gap of their greed. In ancient times, statues of the Graces were depicted naked, because the solidity of friendship and the truth of faith—without which the very name of grace cannot exist—cannot be hidden by any mask of pretense. But now, when it comes to people who love not their friends but themselves in everything, a mask of complexity is necessary to please them. For among them, grace—because it isn't given freely—is no longer grace, but a lure for profit. They have truly taken on the face of a prostitute, and they don't blush at any vice as long as they are reaching for gain. It is an old complaint of the wise man, mourning the unworthy decline of friendship: 'That once-venerable name of friendship is sold, and sits in the marketplace like a prostitute.' This is clear from the fact that, if utility ceases, there is rarely or never anyone who cultivates the virtue of friendship for its own sake.
The Theatricality of Worldly Fortune
Worldly relationships are likened to a stage play, where masks of friendship are discarded as soon as fortune fades.
In so many cycles of the ages, in such a long passage of time, and in such a vast multitude and variety of people, it's rare—as Laelius says—to find three or four pairs of friends. Our Judge laments this very thing, even if he seems to have taken on another's persona; for he says: 'If the name of friendship holds only as long as it's convenient, it's just a counter moving on a game board.' While fortune remains, you keep the face of a friend; when it falls, you turn your face away in shameful flight. The troupe acts out a play on stage: one is called father, another son, another holds the title of rich man; but as soon as the script ends the parts being mocked, the true face returns, and the disguise vanishes.
Read the original Latin
quod muneribus aut obsequiorum difficultate ualidissime procedit. Ecce uir sapientissimus in filio erudiens uniuersos assentatorum gratiam omnibus suspectam reddit omnesque deterret, et hoc quidem in initio, eo forte quod recte gradientem primus adulatorum congressus impugnat. Haec fortasse merec trix est cuius indicit fugam. Fauus, inquit, distillans labia meretricis et nitidius oleo guttur eius. Nouissima autem eius quasi absintium amara et acuta quasi gladius biceps. praesumitur, nisi animam cupiditatis igne succensam crebrae uisitationis refrigerio temperes, et auaritiae iugem esuriem frequenti beneficiorum interpolatione demulceas. Aquilarum dicitur esse natura ut, cum stomachum pleniori refectione ingurgitauerint, in quintum decimum diem uel (ut aliis placet) in quadragesimum suspendant esuriem oblatorumque ciborum copiam aspementur una saturitate contentae. Sane longe alia conditio diuitum, immo eorum qui uenalem prostituunt gratiam.
Magis enim aliquatenus accedunt ad homines qui necesse habent, quia crebro esuriunt, crebro refici. Vix possunt collectam esuriem in diem quadragesimum protelare, quin indignentur amicis, si non auaritiae hiatum oppleuerint. Solebant antiquitus Gratiarum simulachra effigiari nuda, eo quod soliditas amicitiae et ueritas fidei, sine qua nec gratiae quidem nomen subsistit, nullo simulationis fuco ualeat obumbrari. Sed iam, cum ad homines uentum sit, qui non amicos sed seipsos in singulis amant, multiplicitatis fucus ut placeat nScessarius est. Apud istos enim gratia, quia gratis non est, iam non gratia sed lucri inescatorium est. Facies siquidem meretricis facta est ei, nec quodcumque uitium erubescit, dum lucri tendit ad quaestum. Vetus querela est sapientis indignum amicitiae lugentis occasum: Illud amicitiae quondam uenerabile nomen prostat et in quaestu pro meretrice sedet. Quod ex eo constat, quod, si cesset utilitas, rarus aut nullus est qui propter se uirtutem amicitiae colat.
In tot circulis seculorum, in tanto etatum lapsu, in tanta multitudine et difierentia personarum uix, ut ait Lelius, tria inueniuntur aut qiiattuor paria in amore. Hoc ipsum Arbiter noster ingemiscit, etsi alterius uideatur induisse personam; ait enim: Nomen amicitiae si quatenus expedit heret, ealculus in tabula mobile ducit opus. cum fortuna manet, uultum seruatis amici; cum cecidit, turpi uertitis ora fuga. Grex agit in scena mimum, pater ille uocatur, filius hic, nomen diuitis ille tenet; mox ubi ridendas inclusit pagina partes, uera redit facies, dissimulata perit.
Policraticus companion
Study the argument weekly; pray the tradition daily
Pair the outline with the Chosen Portion app, which serves short daily portions from the same royal devotional tradition — free on iOS.
John of Salisbury argued that rulers must keep the law of God before their eyes daily; Chosen Portion gives modern readers that same daily discipline in five minutes a morning.
- 8 weeks, one book per week, with the 3-4 key chapters flagged in each
- Discussion questions usable for a reading group from week one
- A daily 5-minute companion portion in the app alongside your weekly study