"And that is why I say:
The counselor whose name was Strong, . . . .
and the rest of it. Poor fool! Such men are true counselors, not creatures like you, who make a living by a mere pretense of administrative competence, though quite ignorant of the ways of statecraft. Your evil conduct demonstrates an inherited lack of executive capacity. Surely, your father before you was the same kind of person. For
The character of sons
The father e'er reflects:
Who, from a screw-pine tree,
An emblic fruit expects?
"While in men of learning and native dignity, an inner weakness is not detected even with the lapse of time. It remains hidden, unless of their own accord they cast dignity aside and display what is vulnerable in their minds. For
Did not the silly peacock wheel
In giddy dance at thunder's peal,
What peering effort could reveal
His nakedness?
"Since, then, you are a villain, good advice is thrown away upon you. As the saying goes:
No knife prevails against a stone;
Nor bends the unbending tree;
No good advice from Needle-Face
Helped indocility."
"How was that?" asked Victor. And Cheek told the story of
