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Straightway throughout the Libyan cities flies rumor;--the report
of evil things than which nothing is swifter; it flourishes by read more
Straightway throughout the Libyan cities flies rumor;--the report
of evil things than which nothing is swifter; it flourishes by
its very activity and gains new strength by its movements; small
at first through fear, it soon raises itself aloft and sweeps
onward along the earth. Yet its head reaches the clouds. . . . A
huge and horrid monster covered with many feathers: and for
every plume a sharp eye, for every pinion a biting tongue.
Everywhere its voices sound, to everything its ears are open.
[Lat., Extemplo Libyae magnas it Fama per urbes:
Fama malum quo non velocius ullum;
Mobilitate viget, viresque acquirit eundo;
Parva metu primo; mox sese attollit in auras,
Ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubilia condit.
. . . .
Monstrum, horrendum ingens; cui quot sunt corpore plumae
Tot vigiles oculi subter, mirabile dictu,
Tot linquae, totidem ora sonant, tot subrigit aures.]
The rolling fictions grow in strength and size,
Each author adding to the former lies.
The rolling fictions grow in strength and size,
Each author adding to the former lies.
Some report elsewhere whatever is told them; the measure of
fiction always increases, and each fresh narrator adds something read more
Some report elsewhere whatever is told them; the measure of
fiction always increases, and each fresh narrator adds something
to what he has heard.
[Lat., Hi narrata ferunt alio; mensuraque ficti
Crescit et auditus aliquid novus adjicit auctor.]
Rumor is not always wrong
Rumor is not always wrong
Every rumor is believed against the unfortunate.
[Lat., Ad calamitatem quilibet rumor valet.]
Every rumor is believed against the unfortunate.
[Lat., Ad calamitatem quilibet rumor valet.]
Rumor does not always err; it sometimes even elects a man.
Rumor does not always err; it sometimes even elects a man.
Nature abhors a vacuum but why do most people hasten to fill in the blanks with garbage?
Nature abhors a vacuum but why do most people hasten to fill in the blanks with garbage?
Trying to squash a rumor is like trying to unring a bell.
Trying to squash a rumor is like trying to unring a bell.
Idle rumors were also added to well-founded apprehensions.
[Lat., Vana quoque ad veros accessit fama timores.]
Idle rumors were also added to well-founded apprehensions.
[Lat., Vana quoque ad veros accessit fama timores.]
