Laughter in Ancient Rome

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Laughter in Ancient Rome Page 46

by Mary Beard

sanniones, 262n52; Cicero on, 168

  Sarmentus (scurra), 68, 143, 255n48; meddlesomeness of, 153

  Satellius Quadratus, 151, 257n88

  Sather Lectures, ix, 211

  satire, Roman, 68; psycho-social dynamics of, 41

  Saturnalia (festival), 62–65, 235n41; Aulus Gellius on, 236n49; Bakhtin on, 62–63, 65, 235n43; the carnivalesque in, 235n47; and Christmas, 63; costume of, 63, 65; elites’ participation in, 236n49; feasting in, 64, 236nn49,55; free speech in, 64, 235n46, 237n56; as inversionary ritual, 63, 65, 235n47; king of, 64, 235n42, 236n54; paternalism in, 65; Pliny the Elder on, 237n56; role reversal in, 63, 64, 235n44; social equality in, 65. See also Macrobius, Saturnalia

  satyrs, rictus of, 57

  Scaliger, on Virgil’s fourth Eclogue, 241n54

  Schlam, C. C., 268n130

  Schofield, Malcolm, 227n40

  scholastikos: Cicero as, 190; laughable qualities of, 190–91

  scholastikos jokes, 185–86, 190–91, 268n4, 270nn24,25; about dreams, 197; about teachers, 192; datable, 189; family life in, 198; identity in, 200; lost point of, 272n45; mimic themes of, 271n40; numbers in, 199, 269n7; Sidon in, 271n34; standard lines in, 271n38; told on themselves, 194; visual images in, 194

  Schulz, F., 274n67

  Scipio Nasica, jokes about, 200, 270n23

  Scott, Sophie, 229n62

  Scruton, Roger, 47, 229n63

  sculpture, ancient: laughter in, 57

  Scurr, Ruth, 237n62

  scurrae, 152–55; as antitypes of dicacitas, 249n56; Christian instance of, 154–55; comparison with orators, 121–22, 129; competition with peasant, 126; cultural longevity of, 155; in Horace, 204; jokes of, 103, 118, 121, 124, 152, 153; murder of Elagabalus, 154; and parasites, 153; in Plautus, 153, 258n99; positive valuation of, 154; Quintilian on, 124; in Roman imaginary, 154; in Roman literature, 153–54; “Romanness” of, 153; social role of, 153; varied usages of, 258nn98,101

  scurrilitas: accusations against Cicero, 152–53, 246n15; pride in, 155; victims of, 147

  Semus (historian), 174, 264n81

  senators, Roman: stifling of laughter, 2–3, 6

  Seneca the Elder, 246n14; Cicero’s jokes in, 103; laughter in, 79–81; on Vatinius, 122

  Seneca the Younger: Apocolocyntosis, 64, 235n45, 236n50; on Caligula, 134; on jesters, 145; use of arridere, 150–51

  Serapeum, destruction of, 269n17

  Serenus Sammonicus, 224n6

  Servius, on mime, 263n54

  sesērenai (parting of lips), 6

  sex, discursive practices surrounding, 67

  Sharrock, A., 223n49

  Sicily, slave revolts in, 152, 258n94

  Sidon, jokes about, 191–92, 269n7, 271n34

  Silk, Michael, 31, 226n31

  Silverne, Stephen, 276n4

  simia (monkey), and similis, 162, 261nn26–27. See also monkeys

  Skinner, Quentin, 30–31, 33, 225n22; on Hobbes, 41

  skōmma (joking), 76, 207; abusive, 32

  slave revolts, Sicilian, 152, 258n94

  slaves, relations with masters, 137–40

  Smallwood, E. M., 254nn42,44, 255n46

  smiles: archaic, 57, 233n20; Chesterfield on, 75, 240n22; cultural significance of, 74; Greek vocabulary for, 73, 239n13; Latin vocabulary for, 73–76; in Macrobius, 73–74, 75, 239n16; medieval, 75; in modern European languages, 74; Mona Lisa‘s, 233n22; in Roman culture, 74–76; in Virgil, 73, 84

  Smith, M., 229n62

  social hierarchy: effect on laughter, 28; inversion of, 63, 65, 235n47, 264n72

  Socrates: facial expression of, 25; subversive repartee of, 153

  soldiers, Caesar’s: jokes of, 146, 231n4

  Soli (Cilicia), laughter associated with, 177

  Sommerstein, A., 257n86

  Sonnabend, H., 240n30

  Sparta, culture of laughter in, 93–94

  Spawforth, Tony, 91

  speeches, epilogues of, 125

  spleen, role in laughter, 25, 29, 224n6

  spongers. See parasites

  statues, Greek: non-smiling, 30

  Stoicism, Cicero’s jokes on, 102

  Strabo (geographer): on Kyme, 191, 192, 271n31; on monkeys, 164–65

  Strabo, Julius Caesar: in On the Orator, 108, 109, 110, 111, 113, 116, 120, 223n1, 249nn58,61

  subjects, laughter at experimenters, 229n58

  subridere (to laugh), 73, 75

  Suda, 269n10; on Philogelos, 188

  Suetonius, 73; on Caesar’s joking, 252n2; on Caligula, 134; on Claudius’s quips, 132; on copreae, 143; Life of Augustus, 134; mimicry in, 263n64; on Vespasian, 133–34, 146

  Sulla: love of laughter, 129–30, 207; satyric comedies of, 130

  Sybarites, jokes on, 206, 275n80

  Tacitus: on German laughter, 52; on Nero, 236n54; on ridicule, 232n6

  Tarentines, laughter at Romans, 4, 6, 220n10

  Terence: modern translations of, 16; stage directions for, 16

  —The Eunuch: adaptation of Menander, 90–91; adridere in, 71–72; audience reaction to, 15–17; causes of laughter in, 11–12, 14; characters of, 9–10; Donatus on, 12, 13, 221n30, 222n38, 223n47; flattery in, 141; Greek jokes in, 89–91; jokes of, 9–12, 14, 18, 176–77, 205, 222n37; parasite of, 10–11, 12, 90, 148, 221n29; performances of, 221n28; popularity of, 8, 221n26; scripted laughter in, 8–11, 14, 16; sources of, 243n74

  —Heauton Timorumenus, scripted laughter in, 16–17

  Tertullian: on Crassus the agelast, 178; on mime, 168

  Testamentum Porcelli, 266n98

  theater, Roman, 8; during Megalesia festival, 9; “monkey business” of, ix; oratory and, 251n82. See also comedy, Roman; mime

  theatergoers, ancient: shared experiences of, 15

  Theocritus, 242n60

  Theophrastus: De aquis, 224n12; Pliny the Elder’s use of, 26–27, 30

  Thierfelder, A., 269n7, 272n50

  Thomas, Keith, 59, 61, 234n29; on continuity of laughter, 66; on early English laughter, 50; on hearing laughter, 52; Neale Lecture of, 231n3

  threats, laughter at, 2–3

  Tiberius, Emperor: banquets of, 145; court jesters of, 143, 144–45, 256n63; stinginess of, 153

  tickling, 39; Aristotle on, 35; Darwin-Hecker hypothesis of, 230n74; Pliny the Elder on, 25, 34–35; in Problems, 43, 230n73; of rats, 47; social conditions of, 43

  Tiro, compendium of Cicero’s jokes, 104, 246n17

  Titius Maximus, 139, 254n39

  toadies. See parasites

  tombs, jokes on, 189, 270n21

  totalitarianism: laughter in, 225n26; resistance through laughter, 5, 30, 220n17

  Tractatus Coislinianus, on comedy, 31, 225nn28–29

  Trajan, Emperor: civilitas of, 131

  Trebonius, Gaius, 104

  Trollope, Anthony: death from laughter, 177, 265n92

  Trophonius, oracle: loss of laughter at, 174–75

  truth and falsehood, in Roman laughter, 125–26, 129

  Tunbridge Wells, jokes about, 271n30

  Turnbull, Colin, 231n79; The Forest People, 45–46

  Twain, Mark, 56; A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, 53

  tyrants: control of laughter, 134; jokes of, 129, 130

  Tzetzes, John, 269n9; use of Philogelos, 187

  the unexpected, laughter at, 117–18

  urbanitas: changing ideas of, 250n67; Cicero’s, 103; Domitius Marsus on, 124; Quintilian on, 125

  urbanus sal, 126, 252n107

  urine, in fulling industry, 196, 272n52

  Valerius Maximus, 266n112; on death by laughter, 177; jokes in, 214, 252n10

  Vatinius: Cicero’s attack on, 106, 122–23, 251n89; jokes on himself, 251n101; relationship with Cicero, 122–23, 251n90

  Vatinius (court jester), 143

  Velleius Paterculus, History of Rome, 189

  Venus, laughter of, 81

  Verrius Flaccus, 264n73; on Zeuxis, 172–73

  Versnel, H. S., 235n44

  Vespasian, Emperor: civilitas of, 130;
dicacitas of, 153; funeral procession of, 146, 256n72; jocularity of, 133–34

  Victoria, Queen, 237n60

  Virgil: Diocletian’s quoting of, 13; words for laughter, 75; words for smiles, 73

  —Aeneid: interpretation of Homeric laughter, 88–89; laughter in, 81

  —Eclogue 4: Christian readings of, 84; laughter in, 81–85; manuscript tradition of, 83, 242nn54,64; Quintilian on, 83; Renaissance readings of, 241n54; smiling in, 84; textual emendations to, 82–83; translations of, 84, 242n59

  —Eclogues: mime parodies of, 169, 263n57

  visual images, ancient: of laughter, 49, 56–59, 162–63, 165, 166, 233n24; religious, 175

  Vitalis (mime actor), 169

  Vollgraff, C. G., 267n127

  Volumnius Eutrapelus, Publius, 105, 113

  Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew, 91, 274n67; Rome’s Cultural Revolution, 87

  Walsh, P. G., 266n104

  Warner, Marina, 85

  water, laughter-causing, 25–26

  West, S., 271n39

  Whigham, Peter, 171

  Whitehead, A. N., 225n24

  whoopee cushions, Elagabalus’s use of, 77, 128

  Wilkins, J., 275n81

  Wilkins, A. S., 249n55

  Winkler, Jack: Auctor & Actor, 181, 183

  wit: collections of, 204, 206; construction of identity through, 247n29; as educated insolence, 33; moralizing, 206; Peripatetic terms for, 249n65; Sicilian, 204. See also jokes

  wit, Athenian, 94–95, 204; Cicero on, 244n93; Roman admiration for, 94

  wit, Roman: Cicero’s, 100–108; collections of, 202; desirable types of, 115; salsum, 115; typology of, 114, 250nn67,69; vocabulary for, 76

  wit, Roman oratorical: analogies with cookery, 124; changing terms for, 114; Cicero’s deployment of, 105–8; dicto and re, 112, 113, 123; in epilogues of speeches, 125; exploitation of names, 120; forms of, 111, 113–15; inappropriate use of, 103–4, 112–13, 118–19, 123, 129; old Latin terms for, 111, 249n54; in On the Orator, 111–15; Quintilian on, 123–26; restraint in, 120–21; rules for using, 112–13, 117, 120–21, 122; spontaneous, 111, 127, 249n55. See also laughter, Roman oratorical

  Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 229n64

  women, giggling, 3, 157, 219n7

  women, Roman: dimples of, 158, 259n8; jokes of, 156; mime actresses, 159, 167–68, 171, 264n66; in pantomime, 255n62. See also laughter, Roman women’s

  women, Spartan: use of ridicule, 93

  Wyatt, Woodrow, 276n4

  Wyles, R., 262n50

  Xanthus (master of Aesop), 138–39

  Xenophon, Symposium, 257n81; parasite of, 149

  Xerxes, at the Hellespont, 134, 253n20

  Zeno of Sidon, 153, 258n96

  Zeuxis: competition with Parrhasius, 173; death from laughter, 14, 172–73, 177; illusionism of, 173, 234n24

  Zimmerman, A., 266n107, 267n113

  Žižek, Slavoj, 220n17, 225n26

  Zoroaster, laughter of, 25, 83, 242n56

 

 

 


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