He also elegantly flatters his audience of Greek warrior aristocrats (knowledge and flattery of one's audience are essential to the activity of persuasion).
They are always on their best behavior towards one another, Indeed, it often seems as if they feared and must by all possible means placate each other by flattery, humor, or a serious tactfulness.
Whenever he insulted a common citizen it seemed to him as if he were adroitly flattering the Government by a side wind; in default of dignity he was brutal from an overweening sense of duty.