Young men," said Cæsar, "hear an old man to whom old men hearkened when he was young. - Plutarch

Even those virtues which nature had denied him were imitated by him so successfully that he won more confidence than those who actually possessed them.

we ought not to let either our joy at their faults or our grief at their success be idle, but in either case we ought to reflect, how we may become better than them by avoiding their errors, and by imitating their virtues not come short of them.

[Theseus] soon found himself involved in factions and troubles; those who long had hated him had now added to their hatred contempt; and the minds of the people were so generally corrupted, that, instead of obeying commands with silence, they expected to be flattered into their duty.