on the naiveté of philosophers

Gibbon on how to fool Marcus Aurelius:

“The mildness of Marcus, which the rigid discipline of the Stoics was unable to eradicate, formed, at the same time, he most amiable, and the only defective, part of his character. His excellent understanding was often deceived by the unsuspecting goodness of his heart. Artful men, who study the passions of princes and conceal their own, approached his person in the disguise of philosophic sanctity, and acquired riches and honours by affecting to despise them.”