An outline of humor: Being a true chronicle from prehistoric ages to the twentieth century
History
An outline of humor: Being a true chronicle from prehistoric ages to the twentieth century
Wit and humor
“_Polyphemus._ Returning from my accustomed attending of my flock,
I caught a number of fellows in my cave, evidently having designs on
my herds; for when I placed the stone block against the door--the rock
is of huge size--and had lighted the fire by igniting the tree which
I brought from the mountain, evidently they appeared to be trying
to conceal themselves. Well, when I had got hold of some of them I
devoured them for a pack of thieves, as was reasonable. Hereupon that
most villainous rascal, whether he was Outis or Odysseus, pours out a
sort of drug and gives me to drink--sweet, indeed, and of delicious
smell, but most insidious, and which caused great disorder in my head;
for, immediately upon my drinking, everything seemed to me to be in a
whirl, and the cave itself was turned upside down, and I was no longer
at all in my senses; and at last I was dragged down into sleep. Then
sharpening the bar, and igniting it besides, he blinded me as I slept,
and from that time I am a blind man, at your service, Poseidon.
“_Poseidon._ How soundly you slept, my son, that you did not
jump up while you were being blinded! But as for this Odysseus, then,
how did he escape? For he could not--I am well assured that he could
not--move away the rock from the door.
“_Polyphemus._ Yes, but it was I who removed it, that I might the
better catch him as he was going out; and, sitting down close to the
door, I groped for him with extended hands, letting only my sheep go
out to pasture, after having given instructions to the ram what he was
to do in my place.
“_Poseidon._ I perceive: they slipped away unnoticed, under the
sheep. But you ought to have shouted, and called the rest of the
Cyclopes to your aid.
“_Polyphemus._ I did summon them, father, and they came. But
when they asked the sneaking rascal’s name, and I said it was Outis,
thinking I was in a mad fit, they took themselves off at once. Thus the
cursed fellow tricked me with his name; and what especially vexes me
is, that he actually threw my misfortune in my teeth. ‘Not even,’ said
he, ‘will your father Poseidon cure you.’
“_Poseidon._ Never mind, my child, for I will revenge myself upon
him; he shall learn that, even if it is not possible for me to heal the
mutilation of people’s eyes, at all events the fate of voyagers is in
my hands. And he is still at sea.”
--_Dialogues of the Sea-Gods._
Remembering that the dividing lines may not be too strictly drawn, we
close our survey of Greek Humor with some of the fragments of Menander.
Menander, who was to the Middle or New Comedy what Aristophanes was
to the Old Comedy, left only fragments. One bit, rather longer than
the others, shows, with the inevitable animal element not lacking, a
surprisingly modern spirit of satire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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