To Fool an Emperor

December 3, 2022 Saxo Greek and Roman, Humor

THE SCENE: The emperor’s joke in this passage is tame, but I can’t help but be amused by the petitioner trying to fool the emperor.

THE TEXT: His memory was vast, his capacity boundless; For he both dictated his speeches, and made his replies to everything, in person. Many of his jokes still survive, for he was also very witty. Hence the following story has also become well known: when he had refused a request to a certain gray-haired man, and the same man petitioned again, but with dyed hair, Hadrian replied: “I have already refused to this to your father.”

– The Augustan History, Aelius Spartianus, 4th Century AD

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