Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Trash Talk from the Odyssey


This type of stuff apparently dates back all the way to the 8th Century B.C.

“Oh I knew it!”  
Broadsea broke in, mocking him (Odysseus) to his face.
“I never took you for someone skilled in games,
the kind that real men play throughout the world.
Not a chance. You’re some skipper of profiteers,
roving the the high seas in his scudding craft,
reckoning up his freight with a keen eye out
for home-cargo, grabbling the gold he can!
You’re not athlete. I see that.”

The Odyssey by Homer
Chapter 8, verses 183-89
Translated by Robert Fagles


Odysseus, of course, foils this upstart by heaving a discus apparently over everyone's heads (as they cringe) and he receives a nice jewel studded sword as reparation, but still....

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