, but I
note here only that one fault which it was quoted to illustrate.

_On puns._

To the same general category may be referred most puns, the point of
which usually rises from some untruth. For example, in Sannazaro's
well-known epigram:

Happy has built twin bridges on the Seine:
Happy the Seine may call her Pontifex.[11]

If you take _Pontifex_ in the sense of "builder of bridges" the
thought is true, but pointless; consequently, for there to be a point
the word _Pontifex_ must be taken in the sense of "Bishop", and in
this sense it will be false that the Pontifex is happy. Similarly, in
another epigram of some reputation:

They say you're treating Cosma for his deafness,
And that you promised, French, a definite cure;
But you can't bring it off for all your deftness:
He'll hear ill of himself while tongues endure.[12]

Take _audire_ as referring to the sense of hearing and the thought is
false, since that physical defect is curable; take it as referring to
a good reputation, and the thought will again be false and inept, for
it is false and inept that a doctor will labor in vain to cure a
defect of the ears because he cannot medicine to a diseased
reputation.

All puns are embarrassed by such faults, while on the other hand their
charm is quite thin, or rather nonexistent. Formerly, it is true, in
an earlier age there was some praise for that kind of thing, and so
Cicero and Quintilian are said to have derived polished witticisms
from the device of double-meaning; now, however, it is rightly held in
great contempt, so much so that men of taste not only do not hunt for
puns but even avoid them. They are, one must admit, more bearable, or
at least less objectionable when they come spontaneously; but anyone
who brings out ones he has thought up or indicates that he himself is
pleased with them is quite properly judged to be inexperienced in
society. Hence it is that epigrams whose elegance is derived from puns
are held of no account. For since verses are only composed by labor
and diligence he is justly considered to be a weak and narrow spirit
who wastes time in fitting such trivial wit into verse. One should
add, too, that there is another disadvantage in puns, that they are so
imbedded in their own language that they cannot be translated into
another. For these reasons we have admitted few punning epigrams into
this anthology, and those only as examples of a faulty kind.

_