ADULATION. - Exaggerated and unreasonable praise directed toward others for interested motives. A. always arises from and is nourished by some secret passion, such as love of money, vanity, ambition, or fear; at times also by a wicked disposition, especially when it comes to excuse the vices of the person flattered or to commend his evil actions. Scripture openly reproves it: “It is better to be rebuked by the wise than deceived by the a. of the wicked” (Eccle, 7, 6). S. Agostino regards it as a kind of persecution and as a vice common among magnates and politicians (Expos. in Ps. 59). S. Gregorio M. compares the flatterer to the scorpion, which, apparently peaceful in its bodily movements, then stings with its tail (Expos. in Ez. 1, 2).
A. is in itself a venial sin; but it may become grave according to the importance of the action or thing praised, in regard to the end for which one acts, and with respect to the occasion given to the person flattered to err or to sin.