Πῶς ἄν τις διακρίνειε τὸν κόλακα τοῦ φίλου

Lines

1 – 1 2 – 2 3 – 4 4 – 4 5 – 5 5 – 5 6 – 7 7 – 7 8 – 8 9 – 9 9 – 9 10 – 10 11 – 11 11 – 11 12 – 12 13 – 13 14 – 14 15 – 15 15 – 15 16 – 16 17 – 17 17 – 17 17 – 17 18 – 18 19 – 19 19 – 19 20 – 20 20 – 21 21 – 22 22 – 22 22 – 22 22 – 22 23 – 23 24 – 24 25 – 25 25 – 25 26 – 26 27 – 27 27 – 27 28 – 28 28 – 28 29 – 30 30 – 30 31 – 31 32 – 32 32 – 32 32 – 32 33 – 33 33 – 33 34 – 34 35 – 35 36 – 36 36 – 36 36 – 36 36 – 37

İngilizce İngilizce Yunanca

17 And indeed I can compare that trifling insignificant liberty of speech to which he pretends to nothing better than that sham Hercules which Menander introduces in one of his comedies. with a light hollow club upon his shoulder; for, as women’s pillows, which seem sufficiently stuffed to bear up their heads, yield and sink under their weight, so this counterfeit freedom in a flatterer’s conversation swells big and promises fair, that when it shrinks and contracts itself it may draw those in with it who lay any stress upon its outward appearance. Whereas the genuine and friendly reprehension fixes upon real criminals, causing them grief and trouble indeed, but only what is wholesome and salutary; like honey that corrodes but yet cleanses the ulcerous parts of the body, and is otherwise both pleasant and profitable. But of this in its proper place. We shall discourse at present of the flatterer who affects a morose, angry, and inexorable behavior towards all but those upon whom he designs, is peevish and difficult towards his servants, animadverts severely upon the failures of his relations and domestics, neither admires nor respects a stranger but superciliously contemns him, pardons no man, but by stories and complaints exasperates one against another, thinking by these means to acquire the character of an irreconcilable enemy to all manner of vice, that he may be thought one who would not spare his favorites themselves upon occasion, and would neither act nor speak any thing out of a mean and dastardly complaisance.