Disputation XXXIV: On Detraction

TWO Sisters, harlots, and daughters of one Mother, are Detraction and Contumely: the one Oolla the greater, fervent and wanton; the other Ooliba the lesser, of whom Ezech. 23. Both alike in face, alike also in guilt, they run mad with the lust of calumniating, uncover the disgraces of their neighbors, and pour out upon them their malices. But detraction rages the more against the neighbor's fame, the more it lurks in secret under the lesser species of defaming, lest it betray itself by its own vice. Concerning this virulent sin, we must inquire what it is, and how manifold it is.