Denouncing flatterers privately while embracing such men publicly

Wherefore one may justly take you to task because, while you know well that many great houses have been ruined by flatterers and while in your private affairs you abhor those who practice this art, in your public affairs you are not so minded towards them. On the contrary, while you denounce those who welcome and enjoy the society of such men, you yourselves make it manifest that you place greater confidence in them than in the rest of your fellow citizens. Isocrates speaking to the demagogic leaders of the war party later termed sycophants. Book 8. Section 4.

Closeup of a Silver plate depicting the battle between David and Goliath. In 628–29 CE the Byzantine emperor Herakleios (r. 610–41 CE) successfully ended a long, costly war with Persia and regained Jerusalem, Egypt, and other Byzantine territory. Silver stamps dating to 613–29/30 CE on the reverse of this masterpiece place its manufacture in Herakleios’s reign. Elaborate dishes used for display at banquets were common in the late Roman and early Byzantine world. Generally decorated with classical themes, these objects conveyed wealth, social status, and learning. Photographed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.