Sat. II. i. 32.
Vices, however, are treated as follies; and the man of wit and pleasure seldom uses a weapon more keen than the shafts of ridicule:—
Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico
Tangit et admissus circum præcordia ludit.
Persius, S. i. 116.
Arch Horace, while he strove to mend,
Probed all the foibles of his smiling friend;
Played lightly round and round the peccant part,
And won unfelt an entrance to his heart;
Well skilled the follies of the crowd to trace,