Book I, satire iv, p. 18
“
He who maligns an absent friend's fair fame,
Who says no word for him when others blame,
Who courts a reckless laugh by random hits,
Just for the sake of ranking among wits,
Who feigns what he ne'er saw, a secret blabs,
Beware him, Roman! that man steals or stabs!
— John Conington
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "He who maligns an absent friend's fair fame,
Who says no word for him when others blame,
Who courts a reckless laugh by random hits,
Just for the sake of ranking among wits,
Who feigns what he ne'er saw, a secret blabs,
Beware him, Roman! that man steals or stabs!" in the context of "Book I, satire iv, p. 18" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "John Conington" (Quotes, Translations, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace (1869), Satires)
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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About John Conington
John Conington (10 August 1825 – 23 October 1869) was an English classical scholar.
About John Conington
John Conington (10 August 1825 – 23 October 1869) was an English classical scholar.
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