The World is Crazy: Let’s Write Limericks on Byzantine Scholars

~ sententiaeantiquae

A few years back, we made some limericks (with bad rhymes contingent on odd pronunciations) based on Byzantine scholars and historical figures. Yesterday I brought them back. Here are some of ours and others’

The eminent John Tzetzes
must have had remarkable testes.
That he weighs all the same
myriad dubious claims
attests to a nice pair of hefties.

The poet and teacher Psellos
Had a lot he wanted to tell us
So he dressed up the words
Of medicine in verse
But his collections no longer compel us.

I am in love with the myriad words of the Suda
It has something for every kind of mood, uh
When I don’t know a name
Or I think some text is too tame
I use this odd fortress as shield and my tutor

Because I am a part-adolescent who lives in the internet age, I had to tweet about it.

I thought this might be the end, but, mirabile dictu, a twitter friend joined in:

…rounding it out with: “that his ‘sore’-name should so entertain us”.

In my own maturity, I could not help but continue (with a little rhyming help from my friend):

The Byzantine Bishop Eustathius
lived some time after the cretaceous.
He wrote on both Homer’s poems
but never left home
and as a result his rump was curvaceous.

Any one else want to play?

[and many do answer the call….]

The call was answered first 10 minutes after the post went live by salamanderheart:

There once was a girl Theodora,
Who had what all guys wanted more of.
But she let them all down
When she picked up a crown,
And erased what she had been before, uh.

“I am not yet drunk enough to write poetry.”–Li Po

And our own Palaiophron added:

Triclinius’ knowledge was ‘extensive’,
Yet on one point he got quite defensive:
He had a small peter,
So he wrote about meters,
Where his measure was quite comprehensive.

And I awoke with this:

Boethius was a man of some polish
of high breeding, with no lack of knowledge.
Emperor Theodoric threw him in jail
–Thanks to a treasonous tale–
There he made philosophy his solace.

And revived nearly 3 years later by no less an eminence than Tzetzes himself:

https://twitter.com/SmChrl/status/1016424848527159299

If only all debates were pursued through limerick….

Image result for byzantine art isidore
Isidore of Seville

Published by sententiaeantiquae

Original translations of famous words from Ancient Greece and Rome

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