The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-05-11
philadelphia Press.)


] Very few people who read the comic
J papers today realize that the basis OF
I most Of what they read is to be found
/ IN ancient classic times. When the Bible
says In2I there IS no new thing under
[ the sun II utterS truth of which few
I people understand the universal appIiea-
I ton.
/ 1t is true that we often wonder where
/ the professional funny men find their
/ new Jokes, as number after number of
! the comic papers issues from the press.
But IT we consider carefully we see that
most Of them are changes rune I1DoD GER
/ tam stock themes. 1t is these stock
{ themes that have their roots in the past
I their growth and their ramifications have
taken centuries to accomplish.
! OI course, many jokes today are the
result of modern conditions of life and
I have been born only in the midst of Ger
tam phases of present day civilization.
/ We look in vain. for example. in ancient
writers for the joke about the boarding
house, merely because boarding houses
We're not features of ancient civiIiZatiOn
Jokes that have arisen in connection
with modern inventions and scientific
discoveries are by their very nature ex-
cIuded from ancient literature But it is
not too much TO say that outside of those
particular jeSts which have their origin
IN absolutely modern conditions. there are
very few jokes, indeed, which have not
an ancient counterpart
Some of our modern slang. and certain
expressions not exactly in high repute.
are taken almost directly from Greek and
Latin The people who were reading
Quo Vadis'' three or four- y-eaTs So Iid
not know most of them. that the char
acter OF Petrouius in that novel was a
real one and that that same Petronius
wrote one Of the most curious works
erature-
A very frequent expression in this book
may have been the origin of a common
modern slang phrase; certainly the par
aliel IS very striking. When a man want
ed to say Of another that he was a good
fellow he would say piper est" which
means literally The is pepper but which
Is commonly rendered by hes hot stuff
IhlS IS one instance out of many The
well known sarcasm. docs your mother
know you're Out2" is said to have its
original in the Roman poet Horace.
The expression. he doesn't know
enough to come in out Of the wet" finds
a curious parallel in this ancient aneC-
dote from StTabO' a Greek writer, who
lived at the time of Christ. The inhabit-
ants of Cyme had raised some money
BY mOrtgaglng one of their public ar
cades. But as the loan was not repaid
the mortgages took possession of the
property good natUredly letting people
take shelter there when it rained.
This was announced by a crler, who
called out: Come under shelteri" hence
a story arose that the people were so
STUPID that they didn't know when to
seek shelter unless they were told
Jokes on the occupations and profess
sions are common in all nations from
early times.
The physician is always hard hit, as he
is today. Jests on the relationships are
quitet common, and the mOther-in-laW
seems to have been Just as unpopular in
antiquity as she is today.
Witness the following story from PiU-
tarch. the author of the Lives: "A
man, angry at a dog. picked up a stone
and threw II at the animal he missed
the dog and happened to hit his mother
in-laW, who was standing near Where
upon he turned to- the bystauders and
remarked: Not so bad after all 8"
Some Of the slurs at physicians are !
characterized by an almost American ex- |
travagance. Here are two or three from !
the collection of poems known as the /
''Diophantus dreamed that he saw Her /
mOgeHes. the physician; and he never ]
woke again, even though he wore an anu I
Marcus. the doctor. called yesterday /
on the marble Jupiter; but though he 4
was Jupiter, and though he was marble I
his funeral takes place today"
Pausanias. the Spartan general, when /
asked why he spoke evil OF a doctor I
whom he had never consulted, said: /
''If I had consulted him 1 shouldn't now /
be speaking either good or evil about
anybody"
BARRIERS were equally hard hit in Olden
times, and their talkativeness was just 4
as frksome as it is today.
Horace. the Roman poet IN mentioning
piece of gossip. says il was well known
IN the barber shops. and PIutarch tells
Of a barber. who trimming the beard of
certain King Archelaus. asked: How
shall I cut it,? In silence replied the
Even the rnilkmen and the watered milk
Joke has It's ancient prototype In an cpl
gram by Martial. who wrote in the first
century of the Christian era In fact,
he hints at many ideas that have done
service in modern times at subjects OF
Okeg
He is particularly hard on women who
Use c9sm"' les to hei2nteli their facing
harms and who lie about their age
Cicero. the famous orator. on a certain
.ccasiOn. whoE he heard Fabio. promi-
lent woman Of fashion say she was 30
ears old. slyly remarked. That's true,
or I've heard her say it for the last
wenty years"
A Greek epigram tells of an ungrounded
sandal IN this fashion: Some sly,
NicyHa, that you dye your hair. What
lonsensei Why, it's as black as can be
Fought in the market"
One Of the most surprising modern
ouches to be found IN any ancient writer
5 the account given in Alciphron a
Sreek writer Of the second century A. D..
4 "Rube, who was taken in BY a shell
ono eyed lust as the modern thimble
lgger plays it,
= poem pretty well known III this day
els OF an absent minded Rattchrnan ,