“In Rome much pamphleteering took the form of verses and songs, circulated orally, or of libelli, defamatory placards or broadsheets”

—  Moses I. Finley

whence our word "libel"
Source: Democracy Ancient And Modern (Second Edition) (1985), Chapter 5, Censorship in Classical Antiquity, p. 150

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Moses I. Finley photo
Moses I. Finley 17
American historian 1912–1986

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