Cicero - The man who backbites an absent friend: A quote for Gordon & Peter Mandelson.

I found this old quote by Cicero, been reading his works of late and figured that it is just perfect for this pair.

The man who backbites an absent friend, nay, who does not stand up for him when another blames him, the man who angles for bursts of laughter and for the repute of a wit, who can invent what he never saw, who cannot keep a secret - that man is black at heart: mark and avoid him. 

Gordon & Peter should take note of the words of Cicero that although old still hold as true now as they did back in the times of ancient Rome:

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