Insult is a universal cultural practice and insults are known from the oldest written sources. In ancient Rome insults were not a marginal phenomenon. They are found in all kinds of Roman sources from ordinary wall inscriptions to literature and rhetoric. The Romans were veritable masters of insult. In this blog post I want to highlight some of the relevant sources and show some examples of Roman insults and reflect on the value of insults as a source for academic research.
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| A Roman speaker, Vatican Museums. |
According to theories of rhetoric it was important to choose the style and figures of speech with regard to one's audience and the occasion. Invective was one of the genres of epideictic speech and was used especially in political and judicial oratory. In his work Institutio Oratoria the Roman rhetorician Quintilian gives instructions on how, when and why a speaker should use rhetorical invective. The basic principle is that the speaker should praise that which is honourable and blame that which is shameful.
In judicial rhetoric particular attention was drawn to the defendant's and other involved parties' character. The defending counsel was supposed to praise the defendant and describe their virtues, whereas the prosecutor was supposed to highlight the defendant's vices and disgrace them. It was thought that a depraved person was more likely to commit a crime than a virtuous one. Similar praise and blame were used in political speeches as well. Politicians sought to influence the popularity of their peers and other magistrates by praising or insulting them publicly.
In his work De Inventione, which focuses on how to choose and arrange the arguments of a speech, Cicero mentions topics which a speaker should pay attention to such as a person's place of birth, nature, mental capacity, appearance, upbringing, manner of life, profession, achievements, family and friends. These same topics can be used for both praise and blame depending on the purpose of the speech.
Cicero (106–43 BCE)
An excellent example of rhetorical invective is the speech In Pisonem which Cicero gave at the Roman senate. He spoke against Lucius Calpurnius Piso who was Cicero's political opponent and accused him of exploiting the province of Macedonia when he was the governor of the province. Cicero didn't mince words while rebuking Piso.
Right in the beginning of his speech (In Pisonem 1) Cicero describes Piso as ugly:
We were not deceived by your slavish complexion,
your hairy cheeks, and your discoloured teeth
Next, he turns his attention to Pisos character, intelligence and talent as orator:
There were but few of us who knew of your filthy vices,
few the crassness of your intelligence
and the sluggish ineptitude of your tongue.
Later on (In Pisonem 10) Cicero describes Piso's morals, what kind of bad company he keeps, and how dissolute a life he leads:
Piso meanwhile, neither so elegant nor so artistic a debauchee,
lolled amid his tipsy and malodorous Greeks, – –
and in it none can say whether that wretch spent more time
in drinking or in vomiting or in excreting his potations.
Cicero has much more to say about Piso. It was claimed that he never spoke publicly at the Forum. He hadn't achieved anything worth mentioning. He was elected to public office by accident because he shared his name with his ancestors. He was a thief who took bribes. He wore strange clothes, was a drunkard and a debauchee who often visited brothels.
Throughout the speech Cicero insults Piso in various terms calling him a monster (belua, pecus), dog (canis), ass (asinus), murderer (carnifex), plague (pestis), criminal (scelus), enemy (hostis) and traitor (proditor). Similar insults were used in Roman comedy as well.
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| Theatrical masks in relief, Ostia. |
Most of the extant Roman comedies come from Plautus and Terence who are the most famous Roman playwrights. Roman comedy was a continuation of the Greek tradition of comedy, the most famous representatives of which were Aristophanes and Menander. The themes of these comedies were often taken from everyday life, and some of the common characters were slaves, soldiers, prostitutes, young lovers and old men and women. The text and the dialogue of the plays reflected popular language and idioms. This included insults and swearing which were an essential part of comedic expression and vocabulary.
Plautus (ca. 254–184 BCE)
Let's take Plautus' play Bacchides as an example of insults in comedy. The play is about two sisters who are prostitutes and who share the name Bacchis. Men fall in love with wrong sisters, people end up in inconvenient situations, arguments ensue, and deception is the norm. This all leads to heated exchanges where insults are tossed back and forth. In the end everybody ends up happily in the same bed in a brothel.
Here are some insults coined by Plautus:
You triple-dyed poisoner (terveneficus)
(Bacchides 813)
O you poor, poor fool (stultus)
(Bacchides 814)
He’s now walking around as the scum of the earth,
he doesn’t have his wits or his senses any more,
and he’s worth as much as a rotten mushroom. (fungus putidus)
(Bacchides 820–821)
You hardened criminal (scelerum caput)
(Bacchides 829)
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| Fresco from Pompeii, National Archaeological Museum of Naples. |
Roman poetry usually brings to mind epic stories of heroes and passionate love poems. One popular genre of Roman poetry was satire of which insults were a crucial part. Some of the most famous writers of poetic satire were Catullus, Horace, Martial and Juvenal. Horace's poems represent a light-hearted type of satire based on witty humour, whereas Catullus and Juvenal use much more stinging language. Martial is somewhere between these extremes with his keen and pointed verses which take their themes from Roman everyday life and habits. Besides poetry the prose work Satyricon by Petronius can also be regarded as satire. The adventures of the three main characters are often spiced up by sharp dialogue and insult.
Catullus (ca. 84–54 BCE)
Catallus is best known for his love poems to one Lesbia, but he also wrote some nasty invective. He had a lot to say about his contemporaries such as Caesar and his associates. Catullus had this to say about Mamurra who served under Caesar in Gaul:
Who can look upon this, who can suffer this,
except he be lost to all shame and voracious and a gambler,
that Mamurra should have what Gallia Comata
and farthest Britain had once?
Pansy Romulus, can you see and endure this?
(Poem 29, verses 1–5)
Mamurra became rich through these military campaigns and the help of Caesar. Catullus also rebukes Caesar – calling him Romulus – for allowing Mamurra's shameless actions. In another poem (94) Catullus calls Mamurra simply a dick!
Rufus mentioned in the next poem is probably Marcus Caelius Rufus, a friend of Catullus. Rufus had an affair with Clodia, the same woman whom Catullus also loved. This poem apparently refers to this love triangle and the deceit that Catullus felt he had suffered because of the affair between Rufus and Clodia.
Rufus, whom I, your friend, trusted in vain,
and to no purpose—in vain? nay, rather at a great and ruinous price—
have you stolen into my heart and burning into my vitals torn away,
alas, all my blessings? Torn away, alas, alas!
you the cruel poison of my life, alas, alas!
you the deadly bane of my friendship.
(Poem 77)
In the end Clodia betrayed both men and incurred the hatred of many others as well. One of Cicero's speeches, Pro Caelio, recounts parts of this story with Clodia. Rufus was accused of political violence and murder. Cicero's defence was partly based on defaming Clodia as he sought to show that the jealous Clodia, who had been rejected by Rufus, was behind the accusations. This speech is another great example of Cicero's skills of rhetorical invective.
In his other poems Catullus calls people greedy, ugly, stupid and perverse, among other insults. Catullus did not hesitate to use even the crudest Latin obscenities.
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| Drunken satyr, found at Herculaneum, National Archaeological Museum of Naples. |
Martials followed the model of Catullus in many ways. Both wrote shameless ad hominem attacks; the difference being that Catullus openly disparaged some of his famous contemporaries, whereas Martial maintained that he never insulted anyone with their real name. Martial wanted to comment on vices and not to offend anyone personally. This in no way diminishes the ingenuity and acuity of his insults.
Martial pays attention to people's questionable morals and behaviour such as drunkenness, thievery and deviant sexuality.
Anybody who thinks that Acerra reeks of yesterday’s wine misses his guess.
Acerra always drinks till sunrise.
(Poem 1.28)
This short and succinct poem reveals Acerra as a drunkard who drinks through the night. This kind of structure where the point of the insult is revealed at the end is typical of Martial's epigrams.
Another favourite topic of Martial's was married life. He wrote about one-night stands, unfaithfulness, adultery and murders of husbands and wives. Here's an example of this last theme:
Chloe the murderess inscribed on the tombs of her seven husbands that
“she did it.” What could be plainer?
(Poem 9.15)
Chloe buried her seventh husband. It was customary in Roman funerary inscriptions to mention who took care of the burial, often with a name and fecit, 'so and so made this'. Martial insinuates that Chloe was responsible for more than just burying her husband. Inheritance was often the motive for murdering one's partner. Legacy-hunting is a recurring theme in Martial's poems. Young men and women pursue older partners in the hope of eventually inheriting them, and old men and women enjoy and take advantage of their young lovers' flattery and gifts.
In this next poem Martial describes a man lying on a couch enjoying a dinner. The man is bald and toothless but tries to conceal this.
That person who lies lowest on the middle couch,
he of the bald pate with its three strands of hair and its trails of pomade,
who picks his loose mouth with smoothed sticks of mastic,
is a liar, Aefulanus: he has no teeth.
(Poem 6.74)
Martial often portrays bald and toothless people in his poems. Making jokes at the expense of someone's physical appearance may seem distasteful to us but it appears to have been very popular in ancient Rome. Other stereotypical characters portrayed by Martial include lusty women, impotent men, greedy and cruel owners of slaves and incompetent doctors to name just a few.
Graffiti
Wall inscriptions have been found all over the ancient Roman empire. The most important collection of over 10 000 documented examples was preserved in Pompeii and its environs thanks to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. Such unofficial and mundane inscriptions could be made by anyone who could write by scratching into or painting on the walls of houses or on other suitable surfaces. Graffiti in a strict sense are those inscriptions which were incised with a sharp instrument into the surface of a wall. These were usually quite unnoticeable unlike modern graffiti. Most of Pompeian graffiti were written in private houses and public buildings and usually in very visible locations. So, it seems that writing on the walls was an acceptable or at least a tolerated practice in Pompeii.
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| A caricature drawing, Villa of Mysteries, Pompeii. |
Here is a selection of insults from Pompeii:
Epaphra, you are hairless.
(CIL IV 1816)
The hairlessness of Epaphra is perhaps due to depilation which was regarded as feminine and improper for men.
Virgula to his Tertius: you are indecent!
(CIL IV 1881)
A man named Virgula calls out another man. The pronoun suus 'his' indicates a close relationship so this might be a case friendly banter rather than an insult.
Ladicula is a thief.
(CIL IV 4776)
This is a rather straightforward insult unless Ladicula was actually a thief in which case it may be a warning to others dealing with her.
Serena hates Isidorus.
(CIL IV 3117)
A few other graffiti have been found elsewhere in Pompeii calling one Isidorus a cuntlicker and a prostitute. This may be one and the same person.
Lucilla made a profit with her body.
(CIL IV 1948)
Lucilla is called a prostitute. According to Roman law, prostitutes lost some of their civil rights and were officially under a shameful status.
You're a huge dick.
(CIL IV 7089)
This is one of my personal favourites among the Pompeian insults. It was written on an external wall of a house so that anyone passing by and reading the graffito became the target of the insult.
Felix, you defecate.
(CIL IV 2075)
This graffito is an embarrassingly public announcement of Felix's bodily functions.
Most of the graffiti were short and simple, but sometimes the scribblers were inspired to create longer and more sophisticated writings on the walls, even turning some of them into poetic metre.
Chius, I hope your piles again become sore
and burn worse than they did before.
(CIL IV 1820)
Chius suffers from haemorrhoids which were thought to be the result of excessive anal sex. This may also be a joke concerning the man's name. Both piles and figs were called ficus in Latin and the best figs came from the island of Chios which the name Chius refers to.
Gaius Hadius Ventrio, knight, born Roman between a beet and a cabbage.
(CIL IV 4533)
Gaius Hadius Ventrio was no real knight but a Roman noble belonging to the upper class called knights. Gaius is said to be of humble origins. A Roman man's reputation depended largely on his background and birth.
We wet the bed, innkeeper. I admit we did wrong.
If you ask why, there was no chamber pot.
(CIL IV 4957)
This graffito was found next to a doorway leading into a building that may have been an inn. This message was perhaps left as feedback by a guest who stayed overnight at the establishment. What is more, the graffito was written in elegiac metre:
Míximus ín lectó fateór peccávimus hóspes.
Sí dicés quaré, || núlla matélla fuít.
Insults as a source of research
Roman insults reflect the social norms of the Roman society and offer interesting and meaningful perspectives into ancient Roman culture. The study of insults advances our understanding of the attitudes and prejudices prevalent in the Roman society. Comparing different sources, it is possible to examine how social context and various stereotypes influenced the content and form of invective, and how insults were put to use in different situations. Insults, especially those in graffiti and other informal sources, also reflect the everyday interactions and language of the ordinary people.
Ancient insults also provide a great point of comparison to modern hate speech. We can investigate how prejudices and social norms related to defamation have changed or stayed constant in the West from antiquity to modern times, and what sort of mechanisms promote and enable hate speech. In recent years this historical dimension of hate speech has come more and more into focus. This point of view is crucial when we seek to understand what kind of thinking hate speech arises from, and what it has led to in different times. Historical sources show that hate speech is connected to prevalent cultural norms and attitudes in each society. This becomes particularly apparent when we analyse prejudices and stereotypes that insults were based on.
This blog post is based on a talk I gave at an event organized by Paideia association at the public library of Turku on October 7th 2022.
More on Roman insults in this blog:
Sources of translations:
Plautus. Amphitryon. The Comedy of Asses. The Pot of Gold. The Two Bacchises. The Captives. Edited and translated by Wolfgang de Melo. Loeb Classical Library 60. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.
Catullus. Tibullus. Pervigilium Veneris. Translated by F. W. Cornish, J. P. Postgate, J. W. Mackail. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 6. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913.
Cicero. Pro Milone. In Pisonem. Pro Scauro. Pro Fonteio. Pro Rabirio Postumo. Pro Marcello. Pro Ligario. Pro Rege Deiotaro. Translated by N. H. Watts. Loeb Classical Library 252. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931.
Martial. Epigrams, Volumes I–III. Edited and translated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey. Loeb Classical Library 94, 95, 480. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993.
The translations of Pompeian graffiti are my own. All photos are my own.
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