Calumny is a breeze…a very gentle zephyr…insensitively  thin…slightly sweet…it begins to whisper. It runs and buzzes in people’s ears.  Dexterously  introduced, into heads and brains, it stuns and swells.

Coming out from the mouth, the chatter grows:  takes strength  gradually…already flowing from place to place…looking like a thunderstorm in the heart of the forest…it whistled and mutters, and it shatters ice.

Then it overflows and bursts, propagates and doubles,producing  an explosion, like a cannon-shot, an earthquake, a storm, a general tumult…that makes the air resound.

And the poor maligned one, dejected, crushed…from public scourge…wishes  only to die.

Adapted from Giacomo Rossini’s Barber of Seville “La Calumnia”

Note: Slander is  a lie  to hurt someone; Calumny is a malicious lie to damage someone’s reputation.  Both, are like poisonous serpents.