Book IV Rumors

"Rumor thrives on motion, stronger for the running, lowly at first through fear, ten rearing high, she treads the land and hides her head in cloud."

"Pinioned, with an eye beneath for every body feather, and, strange to say, as many tongues and buzzing mouths as eyes, as many pricked-up ears, by night she flies between the earth and heaven shrieking through darkness, and she never turns her eye-lids down to sleep. By day she broods, on the alert, on rooftops or on towers, bringing great cities fear, harping on lies and slander evenhandedly with truth. In those days rumor took an evil joy at filling countrysides with whispers, whispers, gossip of what was done, and never done."

It's funny to think that in this age of technology, almost any little white lie can be spread from one side of the globe to another in a matter of seconds. We are so caught up in what everyone thinks of us nowadays, that rumors so small can affect us so deeply. We have become indulged in our personal appearances, and what others think of us, when rumor has been a trending notion since the beginning of time. It has just developed to hit our insecurities so intensely that it's strange to think of rumors existing back dating to the beginning of Rome. Imagine how long it took for a rumor to spread back then, yet the affect was just as strong. The drama of another's wrong-doing has fed our malnourished souls for centuries.