DETRACTION. CALUMNY. COMMON FAME. GOOD REPUTE.
The smoke follows the fairest.
The original of this is in Aristophanes: it means that
"Envy doth merit like its shade pursue."
"The best bearing trees are the most beaten" (Italian).[597] "It is only at the tree laden with fruit that people throw stones" (French).[598] "Towers," say the Chinese, "are measured by their shadows, and great men by their calumniators." An old French proverb compares detraction to dogs that bark only at the full moon, and never heed her in the quarter. "If the fool has a hump," say the Livonians, "no one notices it; if the wise man has a pimple everybody talks about it."
Slander leaves a slur.
"A blow of a fryingpan smuts, if it does not hurt" (Spanish).[599] The Arabs say, "Take a bit of mud, dab it against the wall: if it does not stick it will leave its mark;" and we have a similar proverb derived from the Latin:[600]—
Throw much dirt, and some will stick.