Skip to main content

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.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oedipus’ Children/Siblings—Lily Caswell

Ok, so Oedipus is a bit of a train wreck to say the least. I love the fact that even after Oedipus found out about his less-than-appealing relationship with his mother, he still tried to look after his children/siblings. After he gouged his eyes out, his children came to him at which point Oedipus talked about how that when they were old enough to marry, no one would want them due to them being products of incest. He said for the people not to condemn them based on what their father had done. Even after he knew what he had done and what his children were, he still wanted the best for them. I commented on Logan’s and Ian’s posts.
3 comments
Read more

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...
2 comments
Read more

One shall stand, One shall fall // Ian Blair

      I usually have a little introduction into my thoughts about the reading for this week before I start with the actual blog part of my post, but I can't help but think about the bone-chilling realization that awaits us in Book VIII, so my introduction this time will be brief. It is my personal opinion that if people are imperfect, then we are only capable of imperfect systems and societies consequentially. However, this does not mean that we must not aim for the closest system to perfect that we can achieve.      The realization I wrote of earlier is the suggestion by Socrates that tyranny stems from the system we know as democracy. At first I disagreed, it is anarchism that causes  tyrannical reign as a byproduct of fulfilling its purpose of overthrowing the current power and not establishing another system. All anarchism does is create a power vacuum for another power to take over and the cycle repeats itself, right? ...Right? Quic...
1 comment
Read more