Authority
Thou hast seen a farmer’s dog bark at a beggar?And the creature run from the cur?There thou might’st behold the great image of authoritya dog’s obeyed in office.
King Lear—IV. 6.
Could great men thunderAs Jove himself does, Jove would ne’er be quiet,For every pelting, petty officerWould use his heaven for thunder: nothing but thunder—Merciful heaven!Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt,Splitt’st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,Than the soft myrtle!—O, but man, proud man!Drest in a little brief authority—Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,His glassy essence,—like an angry ape,Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,As make the angels weep.
Measure for Measure—II. 2.