Persius

“ Sagacity, no doubt, and a knowledge of affairs, have come to you quickly, before your beard; you know well what to say, and what to leave unsaid. So when the bile of the multitude has been stirred to heat, the spirit moves you to impose silence on the fevered mob by a lordly waving of the hand. ”

“ Knowledge of men and morals have come to him before his beard; trusting to his birth, his beauty, and his wheedling tongue, he advises the multitude on the most delicate points of right and policy. Yet he has none but the lowest conceptions of life; he has no higher ideals than an old woman who hawks vegetables in the street (1–22) .
Not one of us has any knowledge of himself, though we are all ready to discourse about our neighbours. ”

“ If all my neighbours call me a fine fellow, am I not to believe them?" If, in your greed, you change colour at the sight of gold; if you yield to every foul desire; if by some crafty trick you flog the money-market with whipcord, [8] in vain will you lend your thirsty ears to the flattery of the mob. Cast off everything that is not yourself; let the mob take back what they have given you; live in your own house, and recognise how poorly it is furnished. ”