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Oh, Rumor—Lily Caswell

So when I read Book IV, I loved how Virgil described Rumor. And I’ll be honest, it took me a minute to figure out that Virgil was referring to the goddess Rumor. I’ve never had the misfortune of people telling rumors about me (knock on wood) so I can’t say for certain exactly how it feels because different people take things differently. Virgil says that Rumor “ thrives on motion, stronger for the running, lowly at first through fear, then rearing high, she treads the land and hides her head in cloud.” (Aeneid, p 102, lines 242-244)


Rumors always start out slow, then gain momentum and basically play a large-scale form of the game Telephone. Rumor never sleeps, she broods in the daytime, “harping on lies and slander evenhandedly with truth.” (p 102, lines 257-258) It seems that rumors usually have at least a small basis in truth and then everything gets exaggerated from there. 


I commented on Jamie’s and Haley Riddle’s posts.

Comments

  1. abbieheddenNovember 16, 2020 at 9:51 PM

    Rumors grow so quickly, and it's always so hurtful to learn about. I'm reminded of three things. The first is in James 3:6, where it says "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." Like a wildfire, a rumor can start so small and end up decimating lives. The other two things I am reminded of is the VeggieTales episode with The Rumor Weed and Dear Evan Hansen! Everything starts with a small lie to cover something else up - an embarrassment or another lie. Then it keeps growing and growing until you're in a giant mess and it's very painful to clean up.

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