Laughter in Ancient Rome (79 page)

invective, Roman,
41–42
; Cicero’s use of,
120
,
123
; rhetoric of,
247n26

irridere
(to laugh),
71

Isaac (the patriarch), laughter of,
233n22

Isidore, on spleen,
224n6

Isis, in
The Golden Ass,
178

James, P.,
267n124

Janko, Richard,
31

Jerome, Saint: on Crassus the agelast,
176
,
265n91
; use of
cachinnare,
266n98

jesters: Greek slaves,
152
; as monkeys,
166
.
See also
jokers

jesters, Roman: in elite households,
145
,
146
,
256n66
; at imperial court,
142–47
,
255n49
,
256nn63–64
; joke collections of,
193
; at Vespasian’s funeral procession,
146
,
256n72

Jesus, laughter of,
34
,
81
,
228n45

Jews, Alexandrian: delegation to Caligula,
140–42
,
254n42
; mockery of,
141
,
142
,
254n44

Joe Miller’s Jests,
212–13
,
276n3

Johnson, Samuel: on laughter,
11
,
222n36
; and
Philogelos
joke,
186
,
213
,
268n5

jokebooks: Hellenistic,
204
,
207
; refinement of,
66
; Renaissance,
275n2

jokebooks, Greek: evidence for,
203
,
204
,
274n74

jokebooks, Roman,
201–5
; Cicero’s jokes in,
104
; parasites’,
149–50
,
193
,
202–3
,
205
.
See also Philogelos

jokers: as butt of jokes,
120
,
125
; consequences of jokes for,
107
; vulnerability of,
76
.
See also
jesters

jokers, Roman: cultural ideology surrounding,
129
,
146–47
; murder of,
253n12

jokes: abusive,
32
; aggressive,
123
; analysis of,
28
; apotropaic,
146
; Arabic,
212
; commodification of,
205–8
,
209
; definition of,
205
; emotional release through,
38–39
; ethics of,
27
; incomprehensible,
15
; as intellectual devices,
197
; Jewish,
213
; nationalistic,
270n30
; in
Nicomachean Ethics,
32
; old,
131
,
213–14
,
223n49
; psychological aspects of,
197–98
; reassuring,
247n28
; social function of,
197
; successful,
28
; swapping of,
205
; threesomes in,
186
; unique properties of,
205
; in wartime,
38
,
101–2
,
104
,
229n60
,
246n20
.
See also
wit

jokes, ancient: ethnic preferences in,
89
; Greek versus Roman,
206
,
207
; invention of,
205
,
208–9
,
212
; lost points of,
195–96
,
272n45
; modern retelling of,
18–19
; offensive to moderns,
195
,
272n53
; purchase of,
207
.
See also Philogelos; scholastikos
jokes

jokes, Greek: anthologies of,
203–4
; in
The Eunuch,
89–91
; Roman adaptation of,
89–91

jokes, Roman,
x
; attributed to Cicero,
104
,
105
; bad,
56
,
186
; bad-tempered,
116–17
,
120
; bequest to Western culture,
208
,
212
; on bodily peculiarities,
106
,
120
,
121
,
231n4
; Caesar’s soldiers’,
146
,
231n4
; Cicero’s,
78
,
101–5
,
124
,
126–27
,
153
,
202
,
212
,
245n5
,
246n14
,
270n23
,
275n2
; commodification of,
208
; in culinary economy,
148
; deception in,
125–26
; domestic anthropology of,
201
; effect of rhetoric on,
208
; on effeminacy,
106
; Elagabalus’s,
77
; emperors’,
ix
,
140–42
,
252n3
; of
The Eunuch,
9–12
,
14
,
18
,
176–77
,
205
,
222n37
; at expense of friendship,
76
,
240n27
; failed,
125
; famous persons in,
200
; great men’s,
105
; versus Greek jokes,
206
,
207
; histories of,
17
; illumination of Roman culture,
196
; inappropriate,
101–2
,
123
,
131
,
231n4
,
252n11
; jokers as butt of,
120
; mangled,
123
; mimes’,
103
; modern reconstruction of,
49
,
54–56
,
195
,
212
,
213
,
232nn13
,
14
,
272n49
; objects of,
19
; old,
13
,
15
,
78
,
200
; origins of,
208
; practical,
77
; Quintilian on,
54–56
,
123–26
,
232nn11
,
13
; rhetoricians on,
28
; of
scurrae,
103
,
118
,
121
,
124
,
152
; on the Senate,
131
; sexual overtones in,
12
,
271n40
,
273n61
; suggestibility for moderns,
212
; on thieving slaves,
117
,
123
; tyrants’,
129
,
130
; vocabulary for,
76
; women’s,
156
. See also Macrobius,
Saturnalia; Philogelos