We are told we live in a ‘post-truth’ world. This appears to mean that everyone believes everything they are told as long as enough people say it on enough different media. The Romans called it fama (‘fame’). This term covered news, slander, rumour, public opinion, reputation, notoriety, glory.

When Virgil’s epic hero Aeneas, destined to found Rome, had unwisely started an affair with Dido, the queen of Carthage, fama got to work, and Virgil described what a personified version looked like: a ‘huge, shuddersome monster’, swiftest of all evils, which might start small but gathered strength as it went.