Laudator Temporis Acti

Antigonus, letter to Zeno, quoted by Diogenes Laertius 7.1.7 (tr. R.D. Hicks):

As is the ruler, such for the most part may it be expected that his subjects will become.

οἷος γὰρ ἂν ὁ ἡγούμενος ᾖ, τοιούτους εἰκὸς ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ γίγνεσθαι καὶ τοὺς ὑποτεταγμένους.

Maria Petzold, Quaestiones Paroemiographicae Miscellaneae (Leipzig: Robert Noske, 1904), pp. 22-23 (citing Apostolius):

ΙΧ 18 Ἰχθὺς ἐκ τῆς κεφαλῆς ὄζειν ἄρχεται: ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπιστάτας φαύλους ἐχόντων.

Erasm. IV, 2, 97 de hoc proverbio haec disputavit: Piscis a capite primum incipit putere. Dictum in malos principes, quorum contagione reliquum vulgus inficitur. Apparet ab idiotarum vulgo sumptum. — Idem habet Katziules n. 1141: Ἰχθὺς ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς ὄζει: ἐπὶ δεσπότων παρανομούντων. Vulgarem formam praebet coll. Warn. p. 126 s. v. ψάρι: Τὸ ψάρι ἀπὸ τὸ κέφαλι βρωμᾷ. Cf. Apost. XI 2a vetus Plutarchi proverbium: Ἰχθὺς ἀποκείμενος.

Samuel Singer, Thesaurus Proverbiorum Medii Aevi. Lexikon der Sprichwörter des romanisch-germanischen Mittelalters, Bd. 3: Erbe - freuen (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1996), p. 269:

4.1. Der Fisch beginnt am Kopf zu stinken

145 Mgr. Ἰχθὺς ἐκ τῆς κεφαλῆς ὄζειν ἄρχεται Der Fisch beginnt am Kopf zu stinken APOSTOLIOS 9,18.

146 Mlat. Piscis primum a capite foetet Der Fisch stinkt zuerst am Kopf ERASM., ADAG. CHIL. 4,2,97.

147 It. Il pesce comminda à putir dal capo Übers, wie 145 MERBURY 12.

148. 149 Dt. Der fisch fahet (fängt) am kopff an zu stincken FRANCK 1,36 v. EGENOLFF 299 v.

Related post: A Fish Begins to Stink From the Head.