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.
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A Fish Begins to Stink From the Head.