Laughter in Ancient Rome
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laughter, Roman women’s, 157–60; and animal noise, 157, 158; braying, 158; Catullus on, 159–60, 171; gendered performance of, 259n5; in Petronius, 171–72
laughter, scripted: causes of, 16, 223n53; in classical Latin literature, 16–17, 223n51; in The Eunuch, 8–11, 14, 16; in Greek comedy, 222n34; in Heauton Timorumenus, 16–17; in Joyce, 36, 228n50; in Roman comedy, 8–17
laughter, uncontrollable, 16; Aristotle on, 220n9; Claudius’s, 133; death following, 177, 265n92; myth of, 43–44, 116, 133; of newsreaders, 43
laughter culture: Bakhtin on, 60–62, 234n33; cross-cultural, 5; discourse of, 66; middle class and, 60, 66; natural/cultural binary of, 42–48
laughter culture, European, 61; diversity in, 213; Roman influence on, 212, 213
laughter culture, Roman, 4–5, 79; alternative traditions in, 157; elite, 129, 130, 154; geography of, 191; versus Greek, 207–8; Greek connections in, 85–95; nonelite, 87–88, 193; in oratory, 110–11; Plutarch in, 88; primates in, 160–61; women in, 3, 157, 159–60, 219n7
“laughterhood,” Roman, x, 24, 95; bilingual, 89; changes in, 69; commodification of, 208; versus Greek, 203; role of mimes in, 167; Saturnalia in, 63
laughter theories, 23–24; ancient, 24, 29, 37, 160; animals in, 160; Aristotle’s contributions to, 29; “classical,” 24, 29–36; Greek, 35, 110, 248n46; Hellenistic, 27; history of, 49; incongruity theory, 38, 40, 230n68; intellectual genealogies of, 41; laboratory-based, 38; modern, 36–42, 226n31, 229n63; oversimplification of, 37, 40; Pliny the Elder’s, 24–27; relief theory, 38–39; Renaissance, 212; Roman, 24, 27, 29, 34, 35, 212; superiority theory, 37, 39–40, 41, 230n65; totalizing, 39–40; universal, 50
Laurence, R., 252n3
Laurence, Saint: joking by, 155; martyrdom of, 154–55
Lautréamont, Comte de: Les Chants de Maldoror, 44
Lee, Guy, 171
Leeman, A.D., 228n48
Le Goff, Jacques, 230n71, 231nn1–2, 234n27; on Bakhtin, 234n33; on Isaac the patriarch, 233n22; on smiling, 75
lepos (wit), in Cicero, 114, 115. See also wit, Roman
Lessing, D., 228n52
Lévi-Strauss, C., 256n78
Lewis, Wyndham: laughter theory of, 36, 228n52
Life of Aesop: manuscript tradition of, 254n30; master-slave relations in, 137–39
Ling, Roger, 58, 59
literature, classical: survival of, 187
literature, Greek: images of laughter in, 227n41; monkeys in, 161, 261n23; of Roman empire, 85–95, 243n70; Roman laughter in, 85–95; Roman readers of, 87
literature, Roman: gelastic culture of, 89; in Latin, 16–17, 70–73, 75, 140, 223n51; laughter in, 70–73, 140; moralizing, 163; scripted laughter in, 8–17, 223n51; scurrae in, 153–54; smiling in, 75; truth and falsehood in, 126; women’s laughter in, 157. See also comedy, Roman
Livius Andronicus, jokes of, 13, 91
Livy: on dramatic festivals, 238n64; on Fescennine verses, 68; words for smiles, 74
Long, J., 259n3
Lowe, N., 229n57
Lucian, 86, 227n44; Life of Demonax, 202, 274n68; monkeys in, 164
Lucian (author of Lucius, or The Ass), 178–79, 180, 181; identity of, 266n102
Lucilius, on Crassus the agelast, 176
Lucius of Patrai, Metamorphoses, 179, 266n104
Lucretius, on laughter, 159
Machon, Chreiai, 274n74
Macrobius, Saturnalia, x, 64; Augustus’s jokes in, 105, 130–31, 133, 156, 202; Cicero’s jokes in, 103, 104, 202, 212, 246n14; elitism of, 236n51; on Fescennine verses, 238n67; joking in, 77–78, 89; Julia in, 156, 202; mime in, 78–79, 168; on pantomime, 170; smiles in, 73–74, 75, 239n16; sources of, 240n33; Vatinius in, 122
Magna Mater: cult of, 221n28; Megalesia festival of, 9; temple of, 8
Maltby, Robert, 203, 257n82
Marshall, C. W., 233n17
Martial: on Abdera, 191; on Capitolinus the jester, 143; laughter in, 259n7; use of adridere, 72, 238n5
Marzolph, U., 275n1
masks, 221n25
masks, comic, 32, 227n38; laughing, 57; in mime, 168; monkey heads, 162; in Plautus, 263n53
Mason, H. J., 266n104
master-slave relations, laughter in, 137–40
Maximus (prefect of Egypt), trial of, 241n46
May, Régine, 179
McDermott, W. C., 162, 261n35
Mediterranean, ancient: cultural change across, 87
Megalesia festival, theater during, 9
meidiaō (smile), 73, 74; Virgil’s interpretation of, 88
Melissus, Ineptiae, 202, 274n71
Memmius, Crassus’s joke on, 123, 125, 248n51
memory, role in laughter, 15
Menander: The Eunuch, 90; Roman adaptations of, 86, 90–91; The Toady, 90–91, 243n74
Mercury, laughter of, 136
Messius Cicirrus (clown), 68
middle class, and culture of laughter, 60, 66
Milanezi, S., 275n86
Milo, Titus Annius: Cicero’s defense of, 99–100, 126–27, 245n2
mime, 78–79, 167–71; as antitype of cavillatio, 249n56; bawdiness of, 78, 169, 241n36; changing character of, 169; Cicero on, 168; Dionysos in, 263n61; economy of laughter in, 172; imitative nature of, 170; influence in Philogelos, 271n42; influence on authors, 262n48; laughter at, 160, 169–71; modern literature on, 262n49; and pantomime, 168, 241n38, 262n50; in Petronius, 172; plots of, 168–69; relationship with audience, 172; scholarship on, 167; sources for, 168; survival of, 169; unmasked tradition in, 168, 263n53
mime actors: comparison to orators, 119, 120, 167, 170; at funerals, 146; jokes of, 103; laughter of, 171; masks of, 168; women, 159, 167–68, 171, 264n66
mimesis, tragic, 263n63
mimicry: barristers’ use of, 145; failed, 164–66; production of laughter, 112, 170, 249n57; relationship to laughter, 119, 160, 167–72, 263n62; in Roman culture, 163; in Suetonius, 263n64. See also imitation
misers, jokes about, 191
misogyny, ancient: at elderly women, 173, 264n76
misrule: decline in celebrations, 66; rituals of, 60. See also carnival
Monaco, G., 248n41
Mona Lisa, smile of, 233n22
monkeys and apes: comic nature of, 27, 161, 166; depiction of Roman heroes as, 162–63; dissection of, 27, 224n14; as failed mimics, 164–66; as flatterers, 163; hands of, 165; in Greek literature, 161, 261n23; images of, 162–63, 165, 261nn32,34; imitative, 161–62, 163–64, 165; Latin puns on, 162, 261n27; laughter of, 231n82; Roman idea of, 260n21; tea parties (of chimpanzees), 161, 260n21. See also primates
Morreall, J., 229n64, 230n68
mulsum (unwatered wine), donkeys’ drinking of, 180
Mummius, jokes about, 189
Murdoch, Iris, 131; The Sea, the Sea, 213–14; 276n5
Murena, Lucius Licinius: Cicero’s defense of, 102
Murgia, Charles, 54–56, 232nn12–13
Musca, Aulus Sempronius, 120
mutism: Aesop’s, 138, 144; cultural roles of, 254n34
Mutus Argutus (funerary inscription), 144, 255n61
names, Roman: jokes on, 120
Nero, Emperor: as Saturnalian king, 64, 236n54
Nero, Gaius Claudius: ridiculum of, 117
Nesselrath, H.-G., 226n29
Nicolaus of Damascus: Historia, 252n4; on Sulla, 129–30
Nietzsche, F: on carnival, 63, 235n42; on Hobbes, 45
Nisbet, Robin, 84, 242n59
Nonius Marcellus, on vocabulary of laughter, 72
numbers, jokes about, 198–99, 269n7
obscenity, as catalyst for laughter, 119
Oliensis, Ellen, 68
orators, Roman: as butt of jokes, 120; comparison to mime actors, 119, 120, 167, 170; comparison to scurrae, 121–22, 129; dangers of imitation for, 250n80; personal responsibility of, 121; stylistic changes among, 124; use of laughter, 19, 54, 99–100, 105–8, 170. See also laughter, Roman oratorical; wit, Roman oratorical
Ovid: laughter in, 71, 81; view of Greek cultu
re, 243n66; words for smiles, 74
—Art of Love, 81; advice to young men, 157; women’s laughter in, 157–59, 159
—Metamorphoses: laughter in, 136–37, 253n28; rictus in, 260n14
paintings, ancient: laughter in, 57, 233n21
Palamedes, as inventor of the joke, 208–9, 275nn86–87
Palmer, A.-M., 259n102
Panayotakis, Costas, 172, 262n49, 263n57; on Petronius, 264n71
Panksepp, J., 231n83
pantomime, ancient, 78; Macrobius on, 168, 170; and mime, 168, 241n38, 262n50; women in, 255n62
papyrus, joke fragments in, 204, 274n76
parasites, 147–52; at banquets, 148, 149, 150–51, 209; etymologies of, 148–49; in The Eunuch, 10–11, 12, 90, 148, 221n29; flattery by, 150; Greek prose tradition of, 258n89; Greek versus Roman, 149; jokebooks of, 149–50, 193, 202–3, 205; laughter of, 71, 141, 150–51; monkeys as, 163; in Plautus, 149–50, 203, 257nn82–83, 86; in Plutarch, 257n87; pranks played on, 148; ridiculi, 150, 257n86; in Roman culture, 149, 163; scholarship on, 257n80; scurrae and, 153
Parmeniscus of Metapontum: consultation of Delphic oracle, 174–75, 265n83; identity of, 175, 265n85; inability to laugh, 174–76, 206, 265n87
Parrhasius, illusionism of, 234n24
Parvulescu, A., 228n52
Paterson, J., 252n3
patronage, Roman: joking in, 208; parasites in, 149, 151; sites of discomfort in, 257n80
Paul the Deacon, summary of Festus, 264n73
Peripatetic school, 29, 34; influence on On the Orator, 110; on laughter, 35; of Roman Empire, 227n44; terms for wit, 249n65
Perseus, slaying of Medusa, 6, 220n18
Persius, vocabulary for laughter, 72
persuasion: in On the Orator, 108, 109; through ridicule, 106
Petrarch, on Cicero, 246n21
Petronius, Satyricon: dinner party of, 148; Fellini’s adaptation of, 182; laughter in, 171–72, 233n24; plot of, 264n67; Quartilla episode, 171–72, 264n71; risus mimicus of, 267n124
Phaedrus: Fables of, 126; on flattery, 163
Philagrios (grammatikos), association with Philogelos, 188, 269n11
Philemon, death by laughter, 177, 179, 180, 266n112
Philip of Macedon: attempt to purchase jokes, 8, 206–7; parasite of, 151
Philistion (mime writer), 169, 263n60; association with Philogelos, 188, 269n11
Phillips, Adam, 216
Philo, laughter in, 254n42
Philocalus, Calendar of, 236n48
Philogelos (“Laughter lover”), x, 89; academic function of, 271n39; Arabic jokes and, 212; archetypes of, 187–88; bad jokes in, 186; bald jokes in, 185–86, 200; character types in, 190–91, 192, 194, 271n37; compilers associated with, 188; cultural implications of, 197; datable jokes in, 189, 269n17, 270n18; dedication of, 188; famous persons in, 189; fluidity of, 188; Greco-Roman cultures in, 188–89; Greek language of, 185, 189, 269n16; identity jokes in, 199–200; interchangeable jokes in, 192; issues of relativism in, 273n54; Johnson’s publication of, 186, 268n5; jokes on dreams, 197; jokes on family life, 198; joking styles in, 192, 194–96; links to fable in, 271n40; manuscript tradition of, 186–87, 188, 190, 195, 269nn7,11, 270n27; mime influences in, 271n42; miser jokes in, 191; modern appreciation of, 212; modern borrowings from, 213; numerical tropes in, 198–99; origins of, 188–89, 192–93, 201; personal names in, 188–89, 190; places in, 191–93, 199, 201, 269n7, 271n30; popular traditions in, 193; printed texts of, 186, 187, 212, 268n2; puns in, 194; reconstruction of jokes, 195, 272n49; retelling of jokes from, 18–19; Roman character of, 186, 189; scholarship on, 268n2; and scoptic epigrams, 271n40; sexual jokes in, 271n40, 273n61; simpleton jokes in, 196; structure of, 190, 271n37; translations of, 195, 268n2; types of jokes in, 197–200; Tzetzes’ use of, 187; visual jokes in, 194; water jokes in, 191, 270n29; wordplay in, 195. See also jokebooks, Roman; scholastikos jokes
Philostratus (major and minor), ecphrases of painting, 233n21
Photios (Byzantine patriarch), 179
Phrynichus, monkeys in, 161, 261n25
Pindar, monkey tropes of, 161, 165
Pinkster, Harm, 228n48, 247n35
Pithecusae (Monkey Island), 163
pithēkismos (monkeying around), 161; and laughter, 163
Pitt, William (the elder): advice on laughter, 237n58
place-names: funny, 251n102; jokes associated with, 193; in Philogelos, 191–93, 199, 201, 269n7, 271n30
plants, laughter-causing, 25, 28–29, 224n8
Plato, epigrams of, 78
Plautus: banquets in, 236n47; funny words of, 56; monkey tropes of, 162; parasites in, 257n82; scurrae in, 153, 258n99; stage directions for, 16, 223n51
—Amphitruo, Greek sources of, 90
—Aulularia, 223n52
—Persa, joke collections in, 203
—Pseudolus, 16, 17
—Rope, puns in, 56, 232nn15–16
—Stichus, parasite of, 149–50, 203, 257nn83,86
—Truculentus, masks in, 263n53
Plaza, Maria, 171, 264n72
Pliny the Elder, death of, 24
—Natural History, 224n3; on bodily peculiarities, 25, 42–43; laughter in, 24–27, 83, 84; on magical springs, 25–26; on Saturnalia, 237n56; scope of, 24; sources of, 26–27, 30, 224n11; spleen in, 25, 224n6; tickling in, 34–35; on Zeuxis, 173
Pliny the Younger, on inappropriate jokes, 131, 252n11
Plutarch: apophthegmata of, 202; on Attic wit, 94–95, 204, 245n94; on Cercopes, 262n38; citing of Menander, 244n75; on court jesters, 255n49; on flatterers, 257n87; jokes in, 189; on laughter, 27–28, 58; life of Cicero, 101, 102–3; place in laughter culture, 88; on Spartan laughter, 93–94; on Sulla, 130. Works: How to Tell a Flatterer form a Friend, 163; Questions, 89; Saying of the Spartans, 202, 274n70; Sayings of Kings and Commanders, 189, 202; Table Talk, 89
Politian, on Virgil’s fourth Eclogue, 241n54
Pompeii: House of the Dioscuri, 261n34; House of the Tragic Poet, 58, 59, 234n25; monkey images at, 162–63, 261nn32,34
Pomponius (poet), bodily peculiarity of, 25, 42
Pomponius Mela, on laughter-causing water, 26
Porphyry: The Introduction, 33; on laughter, 33–34
Porson, Richard, 212, 276n3
Posidonius, on monkeys, 164–65
Postumius Megellus, Lucius: sneer at Tarentines, 4, 6
Powell, Enoch: barber joke of, 213, 276n4
power-laughter relationship, x, 6; in Roman laughter, 3–4, 17, 77, 106, 128–29, 197, 220n10, 252n2; sexual humor in, 106; wish to please in, 12
power relations: contestation by laughter, 6; between emperors and subjects, 136; human-divine, 159; master-slave, 129
primates: Aristotle on, 261n31; classification of, 260n17; laughter of, 46–47, 161, 231n82; in Roman laughter culture, 160–61. See also apes; monkeys
Problems, Aristotelian: tickling in, 43, 230n73
Prudentius, The Crowns of Martyrdom, 154–55, 259n102
pseudo-Ovid, De Vetula, 260n14
psychic energy, release through laughter, 39, 40, 229nn61,64
puns: Cicero’s, 99–100, 245n1; in Juvenal, 258n88; in Philogelos, 194; in Plautus, 56, 232nn15–16; recovery of, 56; visual, 162–63
Purcell, N., 256n64
Pygmies (Ituri Forest), laughter of, 45–46, 231n79
Pylades (pantomime actor), 79
Querolus, scripted laughter in, 223n52
Quinn, Kenneth, 171
Quintilian, death of family, 123
—Handbook on Oratory: Cicero in, 103, 123, 251n93; Cicero’s jokes in, 104, 126–27; cookery analogies in, 124; on double entendres, 99–100; jokes in, 54–56, 123–26, 139, 232nn11,13; on laughter, 28, 37, 224n17; ridiculus in, 125; on scurrae, 124; sources of, 123; textual transmission of, 55–56; truth and falsehood in, 125–26, 129, 152; types of wit in, 115, 250n69; on urbanitas, 125; on Virgil’s fourth Eclogue, 83, 241n54; words for smiles, 74
Rabbie, Edwin, 110, 228n48
Rabelais, Francois: Gargantua and
Pantagruel, 60, 61
Ramsay, Sir William, 26
Rapp, A., 270n18
Raskin, Victor, 38, 222n41
rats, laughter of, 47
religious images, competing modes of, 175
Rembrandt, self-portrait as Zeuxis, 173
renidere (to shine out), 72, 73, 74, 240n20 rex facetus, medieval, 130
Rhadamanthys, as inventor of the joke, 208–9, 275n87; as judge in underworld, 161
rhetoric: effect on jokes, 208; Hellenistic handbooks on, 225n23; of invective, 247n26; morality of, 108, 109; truth of, 126
Richlin, Amy, 259n3; on Freudian laughter, 229n64; The Garden of Priapus, 105–6
rictus (laughter), 72; of animals, 159; of dogs, 260n16; Ovid’s use of, 260n14
ridere (to laugh), 71, 72, 75; etymology of, 231n81, 238n1; favorable senses of, 83; and meidian, 253n25; Virgil’s use of, 73
ridicule: Aristotelian tradition on, 121; Cicero’s use of, 106; enforcement of norms through, 106; in Roman culture, 232n6; Spartan use of, 93; use in persuasion, 106
ridiculus (laugh-able): Cicero as, 102–3; parasites as, 150, 257n86; Quintilian on, 125; two senses of, 108, 125. See also the laughable
Risus (god of Laughter), in The Golden Ass, 160, 178, 181–83
risus (laughter), 11, 71; and gelōs, 48; rules governing, 83; in Virgil’s fourth Eclogue, 81–85. See also laughter, Roman
rituals: inversionary, 63, 65, 235n47; of misrule, 60; scapegoat, 182, 267n124
Robert, L., 270n18
Roberts, M., 259n103
Robertson, D. S., 267n124
Rochefort, G., 269n7
Roller, M. B., 256n77, 258n88
Roman Empire: bilingual literary culture of, 85–95, 243n68; construction of identity in, 243n65; cultural change in, 87; diversity of inhabitants, 86–87; Greek culture of, 88, 90; Greek literature of, 85–95, 243n70; power structures of, 88
rulers, benevolent jokes of, 130. See also emperors, Roman
Saint-Denis, E. de, 231n3, 238n64
sales (witticisms), Cicero on, 114, 115. See also wit