Palladas of Alexandria, Greek Anthology 9.168
“Unfortunately, I married a wife who is ‘destructive wrath,’ and my profession, too, obliges me to start from ‘wrath.’ Oh! I am a man subject to much wrath, having to deal with it in two ways: my grammatical art*, and my angry wife!”
„Μῆνιν οὐλομένην” γαμετὴν ὁ τάλας γεγάμηκα
καὶ παρὰ τῆς τέχνης μήνιδος ἀρξάμενος.
ὤμοι ἐγὼ πολύμηνις, ἔχων διχόλωτον ἀνάγκην,
τέχνης γραμματικῆς καὶ γαμετῆς μαχίμης.
*That is, as a grammarian, whose profession would naturally involve commenting upon Homer, whose Iliad begins with ‘wrath.’
Ok, This is goddamn genius. I don’t know if I have ever laughed so hard. At a Greek epigram. On a Sunday morning.
Isn’t it? This guy Palladas has a lot of this sort of thing, which I am putting in the queue for the week. When I read it, I knew immediately that you would appreciate the Homeric touches!
I also love the toying with both Iliadic and Odyssean language here: ὤμοι ἐγὼ πολύμηνις