'Cause grace and virtue are within Prohibited degrees of kin; And therefore no true saint allows They shall be suffer'd to espouse. - Samuel Butler

With books and money plac'd for show
Like nest-eggs to make clients lay,
And for his false opinion pay.

Nick Machiavel had ne'er a trick,
Though he gave his name to our Old Nick.

Authority intoxicates, And makes mere sots of magistrates;
The fumes of it invade the brain, And make men giddy, proud and vain;
By this the fool commands the wise, The noble with the base complies,
The sot assumes the rule of wit, and cowards make the base submit.