Talk is easily raised but difficult to be rid of

Talk is mischievous, light, and easily raised, but hard to bear and difficult to be rid of. Hesiod. Works and Days. Line 762.

Image: The Roman Empress Messalina, wife of Claudius, with little Britannicus 45 CE photographed at The Louvre in Paris, France. This double portrait represents Messalina, wife of the emperor Claudius (41-54 CE), with her young son Britannicus. Messalina was notorious for her wantonness and ascendancy over her husband; here, she is portrayed as a respectable Roman matron, in a work comparing her directly with a Greek goddess: the mother and child image was inspired by a famous sculptural group of Eirene and Ploutos (Peace and Wealth), created by the Greek sculptor Kephisodotos during the fourth century BCE.