as considered the best
joke of all.[8] The fragments which remain to us of Archilochus'
productions seem melancholy enough, and the only place where he speaks
of laughter is where he calls Charilaus "a thing to be laughed at,"--an
expression which would seem to point to some personal deformity--we are
told, however, by later writers, that he was a glutton. In another
remaining passage Archilochus says that "he is not fond of a tall
general walking with his legs apart, with his hair carefully arranged,
and his chin well shaven;" where we still detect the same kind of
caricature, and in default of any adequate specimen of his "gall," we
may perhaps be excused for borrowing an illustration from Alcaeus, who
lived slightly later; and who, speaking of his political opponent
Pittacus, calls him a "bloated paunch-belly," and a "filthy
splay-footed, crack-footed, night fellow."

Archilochus lived in the fable age, and the most perfect of the small
fragments remaining of his works are of that allegorical description.
But he may be regarded as a representative of the dull and bitter humour
of his time--a large proportion of which, as in his writings, and those
of Simonides and Hesiod, was ungallantly directed against the "girls of
the period."[9]

But Archilochus' humour, though rude and simple, opened a new mine of
wealth, and if it was not at first very rich, it was enough to indicate
the golden treasure beneath. Sonorous narratives about heroes and
demi-gods were to be gradually supplanted by the bright contrasts of
real life. Archilochus' ingenuity had introduced light metres suited for
flippant and pointed allusions. The conceit was generally approved, and
though the new form could not exactly be called humorous, it occurred to
Hipponax, in the next century, that he could make it so by a slight
alteration. Perhaps this "Father of Parody" intended to mimic
Archilochus; at any rate, by means of a change in termination, he
manufactured "limping" Iambics. We must suppose that he produced
something better than this, but look in vain into his lines for any
instances of real pungency. He was a sort of Greek Samson, his best
jokes seem to have been connected with great strength, and to judge from
what remains of his works, we should conclude that he was more justly
famous for "tossing an oil cruise" than for producing anything which we
should call humour. But, were we asked whether in that age his sayings
would have been amusing,