Calumny
Illustration★★★Allegory of A traveler, setting out upon a long journey, was assailed on the road by curs, mastiffs, and half grown puppies, which came out from their kennels to bark at him as he passed along. He often dismounted from his horse to drive them back with stones and sticks into their hiding-places. This operation was repeated every day, and sometimes as often as twenty timesaday. The consequence was, that more than half the traveler’s time was consumed in chasing these dogs and puppies.
At last he was overtaken by a neighbor, who was going the same road, but who had set out a long time after him. The latter traveler was very much surprised to find the other no further on his journey, and, on hearing the reason, “Alas!” said he, “is it possible that you have lost your time and wasted your strength in this idle occupation? These same animals have beset me all along the road; but I have saved my time and my labor in taking no notice of their barking, while you have lost yours in resenting insults which did you no harm, and in chasing dogs and puppies, whose manners you can never mend.”
Anon.
The point
A traveler who stops to fight off every barking dog along the road falls behind another who simply ignored the same dogs, showing that responding to every slander wastes time and progress.