Vergil introduces (Aeneid III.446-441) the Sibyl of Cumae as an introverted writer, who cares more about getting the words down than people understanding them. (Unlike most bloggers today, she later turns into a movie-ready special effect with glowing eyes and hair blowing in its own wind.) Robert Fagles' translation:
"Whatever verses the seer writes down on leaves
There they stay, motionless, never slip from sequence.
But the leaves are light -- if the door turns on its hinge,
the slightest breath of air will scatter them all about
and she never cares to retrieve them, flitting through her cave,
or restore them to order, join them as verses within a vision."
I suppose, since readers don’t come to us for religion, we mortal writers should take more care to get their words in order.
