The Savannah morning news., 1903-05-17

A very frequent expression in this
book may have been the origin of a
common modern slang phrase; certain
ly the parallel is very striking. When
a man wanted to say of another that
he was a good fellow he would say
piper est" which means literally "he
is pepper" but which is commonly
rendered by he's hot stuff"
This is one instance out of many.
The we'll known sarcasm, "does your
mother know you're out?" is said to
have it's 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
anecdote from Strabo, a Greek writer,
who lived at the time of Christ. The
inhabitants of Cyme had raised some
money by mortgaging one of their pub
lie arcades. But as the loan was not
repaid the mortgage, took possession
of the property. good naturally let
ting people take shelter there when it
rained.
This was announced by a crier, who
called out, Come under shelter; 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 to-day. Jests on the relationships
| are quite common, and the mother-in-
| law seems to have been just as I'M
| popular in antiquity as she is to-day
! Witness the following story from
| Plutarch, the author of the Lives. u
| "a man, angry at dog, picked up a
stone and threw it at the animal He
missed the dog and happened to hit
his mother-in-law. who was standing
near. Whereupon he turned to the
| bystanders and remarked, Not sc
bad, after all!'"
Some of the slurs at physicians are
characterized by an almost American
eXtrava gance. Here are two or three
! from the collection of poems known
as the Greek Anthology:
''Diophantus dreamed that he saw
Hermogenes, the physician and he
never woke again, even though he
wore an amulet"
Marcus, the doctor called yesterday
! ON the marble Jupiter; but though he
was Jupiter, and though he was mar
BILE. his funeral takes place to-day"
Pausanias, the Spartan general
when asked why he spoke evil of a
doctor whom he had never consulted
he said: IF I had consulted him
SIOuluIl now De speaking SllIlGT SODt
or evil about anybody"
BARRIERS We're equally hard hit in
olden times and their talkativeness
was just as irksome as it is to-day
Horace, the Roman poet. in men,
tiOning a piece of gossip, says it was
well known in the barber shops, and
| Plutarch tells of a barber, who, trim
ming the beard of a certain King
Archelaus, asked, How shall I cut
it?" In silence" replied the king.
Even the milkmen and the watered
milk joke has its ancient prototype in
an epigram 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 jokes.
He is particularly hard on women
| who use cosmetics to highten their
fading charms and who lie about their
age.
Cicero. the famous orator, on a GER
| tain occasion, when he heard Fabia, a
prominent woman of fashion, say she
was thirty years old, slyly remarked,
That's true, for I've heard her say il
for the last twenty years"
A Greek epigram tells of an unground-
ed scandal in this fashion: Some say,
Nicylla, that you dye your hair. What
nonsense! Why it's as black as can
! be bought in the market"
One OF the most surprising modern
| touches to be found in any ancient
writer is the account given in Alci-
! phron, a Greek writer of the second
! century, A. D., of a "Rube" who was
taken in by shell game played Just
as the modern thimble-rigger plays it.
A poem pretty well known in this day
| tells of an absent minded Dutchman
| filed init grief und shame" because
he couldn't get through his head
whether he was of two twins Hans
that was living or Yacob that was
! dead"
| This is just a little change rung on
| the story of the fool in the Greek Jest
Book of Hierocles," who, meeting one
of two twins, the death OF one of whom
| he had heard of, asked, was it you
! that died, or your brother?"
There was a story current some little
time ago about an Irlshman who made
a bet with a fellow workman that the
| latter could not carry him in his nod
| up a ladder to the fourth story of a
building. The workman put Pat In the
nod and labOriously assembled. At the
third story he stumbled and almost fell
| but regained his equilibrium and final
| ly completed the ascent in safety
well" said Pat, when he was set
down, "yeve won the foive; but l must
say that when we tripped that timo 1
had hopes"
Now. this joke has it's basic princi-
| pie in an old Greek joke about a man
who agreed to pay his doctor a fee if
| the latter cured him. When his wife
| demonstrated with him for drinking
| heavily, when in a high fever, he ex-
claimed: WHAT DO you want me to
get well and have to pay the doctor his
| fee?"
An instance of an Irish bull is found
in the same Greek jest book in the
! story of the fool who was almost
! drowned the first time he tried to swim.
| Whereupon he swore he would never
go near the water again until he had
| learned to swim.
The modern joke about the loaned
umbrella is certainly recalled by the
| following: "Antiochus once set eyes
on Lysimachus' cushion, and Lysima-
| chus never set eyes on his cushion
| again.
Numberless instances might be
| given of ancient jokes upon henpecked
husbands, upon the undesirability Of
the marriage state after one is in it,
| of the caustic remarks of women
| haters, of men making fun of their
wives (behind their backs). of clair
voyants, misers. legacy hunters, etc.
In fact, it is the man who is typical
of class that in all ages has had to
} bear the brunt of the sarcasms direct