Proverbs 29:12 - Exposition

All his servants are wicked. The ruler is willing to be deceived, and does not care to hear the truth, so his servants flatter and lie to him, and the whole atmosphere is charged with unreality and deceit. Qualis rex, talis grex . Ecclesiastes 10:2 , "As the judge of the people is himself, so are his officers; and what manner of man the ruler of the city is, such are all that dwell therein." Claudian, ' IV . Cons. Hon.,' 299—

" Componitur orbis

Regis ad exemplum: nec sic inflectere sensus

Humanos edicta valent, ut vita regentis.

Mobile mutatur semper cum principe vulgus ."

"By the king's precedent

The world is ordered; and men's minds are moved

Less by stern edicts than their ruler's life.

The fickle crowd aye by the prince is swayed."

Cicero, 'De Leg.,' 3.13, " Ut enim cupiditatibus principum et vitiis iufici solet tota civitas, sic emendari et corrigi continentia ." And ibid; 14, " Quo perniciosius de republica merentur vitiosi principes, quod non solum vitia concipiunt ipsi, sod ea infundunt in civitatem; neque solum obsunt, ipsi quod corrumpuntur, sed etiam quod corrumpunt, plusque exemplo, quam peccato, nocent ."