The Ancient Romans often anthropomorphasized abstract ideas, and the notion of “Rumor” was one of the most concrete examples of this. In the Late Republic, when politicians jockied amongst themselves to win the votes of citizen men of the assemblies, knowlegde about basic political ongoings was dependent upon oral transmission. Patrons worked to have their clients spread information – truthful as well as malicious – about their allies and enemies. Therefore, the figure of Rumor or Gossip was discussed as an agent with enormous power.
Book IV of Virgil’s _Aeneid_ has the most vivid description of this allegory: “Rumour, the swiftest of all evils: speed lends her strength . . . Small at first through fear, soon she mounts up to heaven, and walks the ground with her head hidden in the clouds. . . . Swift of foot and fleet of wing, a monster awful and huge, who, for the many feathers in her body has as many watchful eyes beneath – wonderous to tell – as many tounges, as many mouths, as many pricked-up ears . . . She flies through the gloom, screeching, and droops not her eyes in sweet sleep . . . Clinging to the false and the wrong, yet heralding truth . . . “. The role of false information spread by deliberate malevolence is not unique to our modern day.
Modern sculpture by Mexican artist Javier Marin, “Medusa.”
Source(s): Cambridge UP, _Greece & Rome_, “Rumour and Communication in Riman Politics” by Ray Laurence, Vol. 41 (Apr 1994), pp. 62-74. URL: https://www.jstire.org/stable/643134. Virgil Book IV, 180 and following, trans. H.R. Fairclough, Classical Texts Library @ theoi.com/Text/VirgilAeneid4.html .
