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The emperor makes a joke at the cost of the peasant's mother - that she was in Rome at some point and was impregnated by the emperor's father. The peasant's cle
by lqet 5y ago
The emperor makes a joke at the cost of the peasant's mother - that she was in Rome at some point and was impregnated by the emperor's father. The peasant's clever answer implies that his own (peasant) father had sex with the emperor's mother and that the emperor is therefore the son of a peasant.
- jll29 5y agoDoes anyone have the original version in Latin? I want to check if it's funny. (The only Latin that ever made me laugh - cry, in fact - was 'Romani eunt domus' in Monty Python's "Life of Brian"...)
- ithkuil 5y agoOk this is not a joke but it may make you laugh too: https://youtu.be/PbEKIW3pUUk https://youtu.be/PbEKIW3pUUk
- jan_Inkepa 5y agohttp://www.antiquitatem.com/en/a-joke-2000-years-old-augustus/ http://www.antiquitatem.com/en/a-joke-2000-years-old-augustu... has a bunch of recorded versions. > Soleo in Augusto magis mirari quos pertulit iocos quam ipse quos protulit, qui maior est patientiae quam facundiae laus, maxime cum aequanimiter aliqua etiam iocis mordaciora pertulerit. Cuiusdam provincialis iocus asper innotuit. Intraverat Romam simillimus Caesari et in se omnium ora converterat. Augustus perduci ad se hominem iussit, visumque hoc modo interrogavit: Dic mihi, adolescens, fuit aliquando mater tua Romae? Negavit ille, nec contentus adiecit: Sed pater meus saepe.
- pmoriarty 5y agoGoogle translates this as: In August I am always more surprised at those jokes he bore than those he himself uttered, who has greater praise for patience than for eloquence, especially when he bore with equanimity even some of the more biting jokes. A rough joke of a provincial became known. He had entered Rome, most like Caesar, and had turned the mouths of all on him. Augustus ordered the man to be brought to him, and it seemed as if he asked in this manner: Tell me, young man, was your mother at any time in Rome? He denied it, nor was content with it, but added, "But my father often."
- jan_Inkepa 5y agoGoogle latin translate was awful like two years ago, but has gotten ridiculously good (compared to what one would except of a mostly dead language). I haven't learned out by virtue of what effort, but someone clearly has put good work into getting it working. I assume it involves digitisation of medieval latin manuscripts (of which there are many). I wonder how it does/could do at Sanskrit, where the surviving corpus is truly immense.
- slim 5y agoI think the emperors joke was that he himself impregnated the peasants mother not his father. because if it was his father, that would make the peasant his brother and would make the matter serious with regards to the claim for the trone. My understanding is at that time peasants would marry and have children at age 13 and emperors having sex with thousands of women was not morally inadequate
- lqet 5y agoIndeed, this makes even more sense than my explanation!
- Balero 5y ago> that would make the peasant his brother and would make the matter serious with regards to the claim for the trone. This is not how Roman succession worked. Especially at this time. This is a joke about the first Emperor Augusts. His biological father, whilst being pretty important politically, was not the reason he was able to turn himself into Emperor. A very basic explanation was that he got much of his power base from Julius Ceaser, who had adopted him, when he died. So his biological father having any other children (which he in fact did have, an elder sister, who's own Son entered politics) would not matter at all. As the relationship with his maternal Uncle was where he drew his power. This is all simplified, and I am no expert. But it is all much more complicated, and interesting (and always has been) than some simple rule of eldest son gets the throne.
- muro 5y agoAugustus was famous for pushing for better morals, he even banished her daughter for that.
- muro 5y agoHis daughter, sorry
- iso1210 5y ago> clever answer Well that depends on what happens next, but ending up being thrown to the lions would take the shine of the "clever" part
- tonguez 5y agothanks for pointing that out!
- corpMaverick 5y agoyeah,yeah. But don't loose sight that this humor was a way of people to get their frustrations with the emperor out and let the little guy win.
- WheelsAtLarge 5y agoThanks for the explanation. This is one of the few times when the explanation makes the joke much funnier. Looks like making a joke at the expense of people-in-power has always been funny.
- balaji1 5y agoTrue. In general, jokes are almost always at the expense of someone. Also from the article: > here are two ways a joke can fail: it can be too bland or too offensive. In comedy shows, I find most jokes that get laughs/laugh-tracks are just offensive to someone.
- noduerme 5y agoIt's all fun and games until someone gets slapped ;)
- ant6n 5y agoIn what sort of barbaric culture would somebody get slapped because of telling a joke?
- tremon 5y agoThe Oscars?
- adventured 5y agoHollywood
- sdoering 5y agoThat's a good one. Feigning ignorance while simultaneously putting salt in the cut.
- noduerme 5y agoOne where murder on live TV was looked at askance?
- babyshake 5y ago> that she was in Rome at some point and was impregnated by the emperor's father. I guess it depends on the age difference between the man and the emperor but I assumed the emperor was referring to himself and the joke was about the emperor's wife or partner.
- naniwaduni 5y agoIt has to be the emperor's mother for them to be closely related.
- dmurray 5y agoYou're as closely related to your child as to your sibling: they share half your DNA in either case. (This joke is clearly about the emperor's mother, though).