“Mother, said he, this infamy was thrown

By Epaphus on you, and me your son.

He spoke in public, told it to my face;

Nor durst I vindicate the dire disgrace:

Even I, the bold, the sensible of wrong,

Restrained by shame, was forced to hold my tongue.

To hear an open slander, is a curse:

But not to find an answer, is a worse.