Mendacem memorem, esse oportet

Il faut qu'un menteur ait bonne memoire, a liar ought to have a good memory. When a transaction is related exactly as it occurred, there is no probability that the relater should at any time vary in his account. The circumstance must for ever dwell in his mind, in the very manner he described it. But if a fictitious story is told, he must have a good memory to be able at all time to tell it in the same manner. The liar therefore has little chance that his fiction shall remain long undiscovered, for should no other circumstance lead to the detection of it, he will, by not adhering always to the same story, betray the imposition he has practised; and it is well that it is so, as there is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame, as to be detected in telling a lie. «Clear and round dealing», Lord Verulam says, «is the honour of man's nature, while a mixture of falsehood, is like allay in coin of gold or silver, which may make the metal work better, but it embaseth it». Montaigne says, very happily, «To accuse a man of lying, is as much as to say, he is a brave towards God, and a coward towards man».