Thesauros Literature biography Πῶς ἄν τις διακρίνειε τὸν κόλακα τοῦ φίλου

Πῶς ἄν τις διακρίνειε τὸν κόλακα τοῦ φίλου

Πῶς ἄν τις διακρίνειε τὸν κόλακα τοῦ φίλου Plutarch
36 And thus you see with what caution and moderation we must reprehend our friends in reclaiming them from vices to which they are already subjected; whilst the prevention of them doth require a clear contrary method. For when we are to divert them from the commission of a crime, or to check a violent and headstrong passion, or to push on and excite a phlegmatic lazy humor to great things, we may then ascribe their failings to as dishonorable causes as we please.
36 Thus Ulysses, when he would awaken the courage of Achilles, in one of the tragedies of Sophocles, tells him, that it was not the business of a supper that put him in such a fret, as he pretended, but because he was now arrived within sight of the walls of Troy. And when Achilles, in a great chafe at the affront, swore he would sail back again with his squadron and leave him to himself, Ulysses came upon him again with this rejoinder: Come, sir, ’tis not for this you’d sail away; But Hector’s near, it is not safe to stay. And thus, by representing to the bold and valiant the danger of being reputed a coward, to the temperate and sober that of being thought a debauchee, and to the liberal and magnificent the chance of being called stingy and sordid, we spur them on to brave actions and divert them from base and ignominious ones.

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