Tips for aspiring fortune-hunters:
Obsequio grassare; mone, si increbruit aura,
cautus uti velet carum caput; extrahe turba
oppositis umeris; aurem substringe loquaci.
importunus amat laudari: donec ‘ohe iam!’
ad caelum manibus sublatis dixerit, urge,
crescentem tumidis infla sermonibus utrem.
(Horace, Serm. 2.5.93-98)
With flattery make your advances; warn him, if the breeze stiffens, carefully to cover up his precious pate; shoulder a way and draw him out of a crowd; make a trumpet of your ear when he is chattering. Does he bore you with his love of praise? Then ply him with it till with hands uplifted to heaven he cry “enough!” and blow up the swelling bladder with turgid phrases. (tr. Henry Rushton Fairclough)
Crambe Repetita 