John Trapp on Proverbs 29:12

Verſ. 12. If a ruler hearken to lyes, all his ſervants are wicked] Hee ſhall have his Aiones and Negones, that will ſay as he ſaies, and fit his humour to a hair, as Doeg did Sauls, as the falſe Prophets did Ahabs, as Herods Courtiers did him on his birth-day-feaſt, &c. Theſe were fit helves for ſuch hatchets, fit lattice for ſuch lips, fit ſervants for ſuch maſters. Mobile mutatur ſemper cum principe vulgus.Claudian. Like Prince, like people. The common ſort are like a flock of Cranes: as the firſt fly, all follow: Or as in a beaſt, the whole body follows the head. Rulers are the Looking-glaſſes according to which moſt men dreſſe themſelves. Their ſins doe much hurt, as by Imputation (2 Sam. 24. the Prince ſinned,Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi. the People ſuffered) ſo by imitation: for man is a creature apt to imitate, and is led more by his eyes than by his ears. Magis intuentur quid fecerit Jupiter, quàm quid docuit Plato, ſaith Auguſtine. Jupiters adulteries drew the people to like wantonneſſe. Hence Chaerea in Terence, Haec ego non facerem quae Jupiter fecit? ſaith he, Should I make dainty of doing that which Jupiter did? Height of place ever addes two wings to ſin, Example and Scandal, whereby it ſoars higher, and flies much farther. Let Rulers therefore look to it: Let them not be partakers of other mens ſins, 1 Tim. 5.22. (they have enow of their owne to anſwer for, Potentes potenter torquebuntur) let them take heed that the iniquity of their heels (of thoſe that follow them at the heels) doth not compaſſe them about, Pſal. 49.5.