Euripides, fr. 644 (Polyidus)

“Whenever some base man does well in a city, he contaminates the minds of better men who learn by example the resources of the wicked.”

ὅταν τις ἐν πόλει πράσσῃ καλῶς

νοσεῖν τίθησι τὰς ἀμεινόνων φρένας

παράδειγμ᾿ ἐχόντας τῶν κακῶν ἐξουσίαν;