and Hesiod expressly represents her as a goddess, speaking in words that are very plain to those who are willing to understand, for he says, “But Common Report dies never, the voice that tongues of many men do utter. She also is divine.”1 You will find that all men whose lives have been decorous praise these verses of the poets. For all who are ambitious for honor from their fellows believe that it is from good report that fame will come to them. But men whose lives are shameful pay no honor to this god, for they believe that in her they have a deathless accuser.
1 The quotation from Hesiod is from Hes. WD 763 f.; that from Euripides is not found in any of the extant plays, nor do we find the Homeric phrase in the Iliad. Indeed, the word φήμη does not occur in the Iliad, and it is found only three times in the Odyssey(Hom. Od. 2.35; Hom. Od. 20.100, Hom. Od. 20.105), where it is used of words of ominous meaning.
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