" ~Against Listening to Slanderers~ Like the blueflies buzzing round, And on the fences lighting, Are the sons of slander found, Who never cease their biting.

"No balsam can heal the biting of a sycophant;" no thread can stitch up a good name torn by calumnious defamation; no soap is able to cleanse from the stains aspersed by a foul mouth.

See that the person does not injure himself; crowd a pad made from a folded handkerchief or towel between the teeth, to prevent biting of the lips or tongue.