Perhaps the best-known cautionary tales about charismatic boot-lickers, though, come from the Bard. In "Hamlet," "Timon of Athens," "Julius Caesar" and "Othello," Shakespeare portrayed heroes whose downfalls stemmed from their inability to distinguish fawning from genuine affection, or, more rarely, whose worth was proven by their skill in spotting the difference. His most celebrated play on this theme is "King Lear," in which a monarch's anger over his daughter's inability to offer amply gilded declarations of adoration led to his, and his kingdom's, unraveling. "Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave/ My heart into my mouth," honest, devoted, soon-to-be-exiled Cordelia explains. "I love your majesty/ According to my bond; no more nor less."