The Latin phrase (“Of the dead nothing but good is to be said.”) — abbreviated — is a mortuary aphorism indicating that it is socially inappropriate for the living to speak ill of the dead who cannot defend or justify themselves. The full Latin sentence usually is abbreviated into the phrase (“Of the dead, [say] nothing but good.”); whereas free translations from the Latin function as the English aphorisms: “Speak no ill of the dead.”, “Of the dead, speak no evil.”, and “Do not speak ill of the dead.” Attributed to Chilon of Sparta, who was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, the aphoristic recommendation about not speaking ill of the dead was first recorded in Classical Greek, as: (“Of the dead do not speak ill.”), in chapter 70 of Book 1 of the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, by Diogenes Laërtius, in the 4th century AD. The Latin version of the Greek mortuary phrase dates from the translation of the book by Diogenes Laërtius, by the humanist monk Ambrogio Traversari in 1443. Usages Literary Novels In The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867), by Anthony Trollope, after the sudden death of the Bishop's wife, the Archdeacon describes as a proverb "founded in humbug" that only need be followed in public and is unable to bring himself to adopt "the namby-pamby every-day decency of speaking well of one of whom he had ever thought ill." In The Power-House (1916), by John Buchan, after destroying the villain, Andrew Lumley, the hero, Sir Edward Leithen, says , an abbreviated version of the phrase, in reference to the dead Lumley. In Player Piano (1952), by Kurt Vonnegut, the phrase is used by the narrator after describing individuals "with nothing to lose anyway, men who had fallen into disfavor one way or another, who knew they had received their last invitation" to the Meadows. In Deus Irae (1976), by Philip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny, Father Handy thinks of the phrase in reference to millions of people killed by nerve gas. He then subverts the phrase to in blaming them for complacently voting in the politicians responsible. In McNally's Dilemma (1999) by [Lawrence Sanders and Vincent Lardo], McNally the narrator uses the phrase 'De mortuis nil nisi bonum' when a married with a step-daughter playboy George is found murdered. George's reputation was well known in West palm beach Florida and many including his