The battle to be PM raises the question: in a functioning democracy, how should arguments be won? Surely, by persuasion. But for ancient Greeks, too often it seemed to be by flattery.
The Greek for ‘flatterer’ was kolax, and a comedian described a kolax’s lifestyle as follows: he would dress up in his best cloak, hire a slave and head off into town looking for someone rich and stupid, whom he would load with grotesque flattery. With any luck this would result in a dinner invitation, where he would make witty comments, turn the host’s vices into virtues and express delight at being the butt of his jokes. Aristotle described such a person as one who over-praised good qualities, glossed over failings and fulsomely sympathised with someone in distress, and made the point that, since everyone wanted to be loved and honoured, everyone in principle loved a kolax – and that gave the kolax his power over them.
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