blanditia

1. Assentiri means to assent from conviction, in opp. to dissentire; but assentari, to express assent, whether from conviction or from hypocrisy, in opp. to adversari. Vell. P. ii. 48. Cic. Rosc. Am. 16, 99. Plaut. Most. i. 3, 100. Amph. ii. 2, 70. 2. Assentari denotes the flattery which shuns contradicting a person, like θωπεύειν; blandiri (μέλδειν), that which says what is agreeable to another, like ἀρεσκεύειν; adulari (from δοῦλος), that which would please at the expense of self-degradation, like κολακεύειν. The assentans, as a flatterer, would, by surrendering his right to an independent opinion; the blandiens, by complaisance and visible signs of affection; the adulans, by self-degradation, and signs of an unworthy subserviency, gain the favor of another. Assentatio, or the art of the assenter, has its origin in cowardice or weakness; blanditiæ, or fair-speaking, in the endeavor to be amiable, and, at worst, in self-interest; adulatio, or flattery, and servility, κολακεία, in a degrading, slavish, spaniel-like spirit. Sen. Ir. iii. 8. Magis adhuc proderunt submissi et humani et dulces, non tamen usque in adulationem; nam iracundos nimia assentatio offendit. Erit certe amicus . . . . cui non magis tutum erat blandiri quam maledicere. And ii. 28. Sæpe adulatio, dum blanditur, offendit. (ii. 174.)