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Ancient Roman jokes are usually recorded by ancient writers to be used as a rhetorical device, and many of them are apparently taken from real-life trials conducted by famous advocates, such as Cicero. One of the oldest Roman jokes, which is based on a fictitious story and survived alive to this time, is told by Macrobius in his Saturnalia:〔Macr. ''Sat.'' 2.3〕 (4th century AD, but the joke itself is probably several centuries older): :Some provincial man has come to Rome, and walking on the streets was drawing everyone's attention, being a real double of the emperor Augustus. The emperor, having brought him to the palace, looks at him and then asks: :-Tell me, young man, did your mother come to Rome anytime? :The reply was: :-She never has. But my father frequently was here. (The modern version is that an aristocrat, having met his exact double, asks: "Was your mother a housemaid in our palace?" "No, my father was a gardener there"). An example of a joke based on double meaning is recorded in Gellius (2nd century AD):〔Gell. IV 20〕 :A man, standing before a censor, is about to testify, whether he has a wife. The censor asks: :-Do you have, in all your honesty, a wife? :-I surely do, but not in all my honesty. (the pun is in the expression used for ''in all your honesty'' - orig. ''ex animi tui sententia'', typically used in oaths - which can also be understood as ''to your liking''). Some of the jokes are about fortune-tellers and the like, and are probably of Greek origin. An example (1st century BCE):〔Cic. ''div.'' II 145〕 :A runner going to participate in the Olympic games had a dream, that he was driving a quadriga. Early in the morning he goes to a fortune-teller for explanation of the dream. The reply is: :-You will win, that meant the speed and the strength of the horses. :But, to be sure about this, the runner visits another fortune-teller. This one replies: :-You will lose. Don't you understand, that four ones came before you? ==References== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Roman jokes」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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