But the shaft of the slanderer, flying unseen
From the quiver of malice, brings ruin complete.
An insolent tongue, by a taunt or a gibe,
Enkindles heart-burnings and bloody affrays;
A treacherous tongue, when impell’d by a bribe,
The guiltless condemns, or a nation betrays.
A smooth subtle tongue vile seducers employ
The fair sex to lure to libidinous thrall;
A slip of the tongue may its owner destroy,
And the tongue of the serpent occasion’d the fall.