Flattery · Atlas

in the texts

Nicomachean EthicsClassical · Greek

The vice of excess in pleasantness in general life, named obsequiousness or flattery depending on motive.

he that exceeds, if from no interested motive, is obsequious, if for his own advantage, a flatterer;

De legendis gentilium librisLate Antiquity · Greek

The vice of shifting one's stated views to please an audience, condemned via the fox and polyp images.

And as they say the polyp takes its colour from the ground beneath it, so he will change his thought to suit the minds of those he is with.

de legendis gentilium libris ¶

Shall we, indeed, despise wealth and dishonour the pleasures of the senses, but pursue flattery and fawning, and emulate the craft and cunning of Archilochus' fox?

de legendis gentilium libris ¶

ExordiaClassical · Greek

The rhetorical practice, repeatedly named and criticized, of telling the Assembly what it wishes to hear rather than what is truly advantageous, contrasted throughout with the speaker's claimed honesty.

I fancy that most of you have been somewhat swayed by them without really thinking.

exordia ¶

I observe, men of Athens, that there is no mistaking what kind of speeches you would like to hear and to what kind you are averse.

exordia ¶

I myself know, and I think you do too, that just now those please you most who express the same views that you yourselves wish to hear;

exordia ¶

OrationsImperial · Greek

The vice of insincere praise the speaker repeatedly disavows practicing.

envy, smallness of soul, and — the last of all — servility.

oration 51 ¶

And that saying uttered by one of the ancient orators, which seems to have a certain excess of flattery — "I might fittingly carry the people about in my eyes" — I might justly say to you.

oration 50 ¶

To DemonicusClassical · Greek

The vice of seeking another's favor through insincere praise, warned against as harmful to those who trust it.

for both, if trusted, injure those who trust them.

to demonicus ¶

To NicoclesClassical · Greek

Flattery is the false praise and favor-seeking that threatens a king's access to honest counsel.

Regard as your most faithful friends, not those who praise everything you say or do, but those who criticize your mistakes.

to nicocles ¶

for the great majority of people do not come in contact with them, and those who are of their society consort with them to gain their favor.

book 1 ¶

Letters to LuciliusImperial · Latin

A deceptive imitation of friendship, cited as an example of how appearances can dangerously resemble virtues.

How like to friendship is flattery!

letter 45 ¶