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But, Demosthenes, in the case of votive offerings, houses, estates, and all dumb objects in general, I do indeed hear many names applied, ever changing, never twice the same; for in them are no actions good or bad, but the man who happens to have become connected with them, whoever he may be, gives them a name according to the greatness of his own reputation. But in the case of the life and conduct of men, a common report which is unerring does of itself spread abroad throughout the city; it causes the private deed to become matter of public knowledge, and many a time it even prophesies what is about to be.
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to manifest and so far from being fabricated is this statement of mine, that you will find that both our city and our forefathers dedicated an altar to Common Report, as one of the greatest gods;The scholiast tells us that this altar was dedicated to commemorate news of a victory of Cimon’ s in Pamphylia, received at Athens the day the battle was fought. Paus. 1.17.1) attests the existence of the altar. and you will find that Homer again and again in the Iliad says, of a thing that has not yet come to pass, Common Report came to the host; and again you will find Euripides declaring that this god is able not only to make known the living, revealing their true characters, but the dead as well, when he says, Common Report shows forth the good man, even though he be in the bowels of the earth;