Fama
in Roman mythology, the goddess of rumor, of fame,--of evil and of good report. Fama is the daughter of Earth,--a slight, winged creature, swift of foot. Fama never sleeps. What she sees and hears she whispers to a few; then she speaks it more and more loudly to an ever widening circle of listeners, until heaven and earth have heard the news. She is represented with a trumpet. Virgil describes Fama in the Aeneid:
Swift is her walk; more swift her winged haste--
A monstrous phantom, horrible and vast.
As many plumes as raise her lofty flight,
So many piercing eyes enlarge her sight:
Millions of op'ning mouths to Fame belong:
And every mouth is furnish'd with a tongue;
And round with list'ning ears the flying plague is hung.
She fills the peaceful universe with cries:
No slumbers ever close her wakeful eyes:...
Talk is her bus'ness; and her chief delight
To tell of prodigies, and cause affright.
A monstrous phantom, horrible and vast.
As many plumes as raise her lofty flight,
So many piercing eyes enlarge her sight:
Millions of op'ning mouths to Fame belong:
And every mouth is furnish'd with a tongue;
And round with list'ning ears the flying plague is hung.
She fills the peaceful universe with cries:
No slumbers ever close her wakeful eyes:...
Talk is her bus'ness; and her chief delight
To tell of prodigies, and cause affright.
Volume II · Aiton’s Encyclopedia