Calumniae non temere credundum

Lucian of Samosata

Lucian, Vol. 1. Harmon, A. M., editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913.

It follows, then, that life has been filled with troubles in abundance through the slanderous stories that have been believed so readily and so unquestioningly. Anteia says:

  1. Die, Proetus, or despatch Bellerophon,
  2. Who offered me his love, by me unsought,
Homer, Iliad 6, 164. when she herself had made the first move and had
v.1.p.389
been scorned. So the young man came near getting killed in the encounter with the Chimaera, and was rewarded for his continence and his respect for his host by being plotted against by a wanton. As for Phaedra, she too made a similar charge against her stepson and so brought it about that Hippolytus was cursed by his father [*](Theseus: the story is told in the Hippolytus of Euripides.) when he had done nothing impious—good Heavens, nothing !