Nice Day for a Squirm

It's been a long time since I posted a new comic to this blog/webcomic thing. This one is kind of out of step with the others, but really the blog is for all sorts of cartoon. I just wanted to post something so you'll know I'm not dead. I haven't been enrolled in any classes this past semester, so I haven't had a lot of inspiration or access to black/white boards.

Something I thought up after seeing all the worms out on the sidewalks during a heavy rain. 

I could add this one too, I suppose: 

Just 'cause.

 

It's My Epic, and I'll Cry If I Want To...

Re: Iliad I.348-356, XVI.1-19

OK, so they didn't and don't have quite the same idea about men crying in the Mediterranean world as they do in America and Northern Europe, that is the whole "boys don't cry" concept. Even so, Achilles seems to make fun of Patroclus for crying in Book 16 of the Iliad, by comparing him to a little girl trying to get her mother to pick her up. Thing is, Patroclus has just been around the Greek camp and seen the sorry state of affairs and was fearing for the survival of the Greek army--who can blame him for a few tears? Achilles, on the other hand was bawling to his mummy in Book 1 just because his prize (viz. the girl Briseis) was taken away from him. 

Some people argue that the little girl simile is actually not a taunt, but a reference to the plight of women and children taken captive in war and thus a very sympathetic remark by Achilles. They're welcome to their opinion, though I think the evidence is circumstantial, dependent on the assumption that Homer "whoever he were" carefully chose words that conjur the image of a rich woman fleeing a sacked city with her young daughter trying to keep up--without making any explicit reference to those circumstances of war and flight. *shrug* Anyway, it's funnier my way. 

forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit

"Even you, Aslan?"

Been reading about and discussing the persecution of the Christians 3rd/early 4th centuries AD lately. Naturally, I have to make an inappropriate joke about it. Hopefully it's not 'too soon.' 

The title is part of a line from Vergil's Aeneid (I.203), meaning: "Perhaps it will even be pleasant to recall these things one day." 

AAAUGH!!!

Charles Schulz's Iliad? 

Here we have Achilleus bewailing the loss of his prize of honor (γέρας, which you can see I put the wrong accent on...). I'm afraid I didn't draw Lucy (playing Agamemnon) at all well... but I didn't have any references to look at. 

I Have Political Opinions!

No further comment.

Gyges and Kandaules

RE: Herodotus, Histories I.7-14

Without classes during the summer, I have had less material inspiring me to draw cartoons lately. But I have been doing some independent study reading Herodotus in Greek. I've just gotten to reading the tale of Gyges, which always seems pretty funny to me. I think it would make a good comedy sketch for people who know the story. But, for the nonce, here's a cartoon of that story. 

For those who don't know the story: The uxorious Lydian King Kandaules keeps bragging on how his wife is the most beautiful woman in the world to his counselor Gyges. Convinced that Gyges will only believe him if he sees for himself, Kandaules arranges for Gyges (over Gyges' objections) to spy on his wife so he can see her naked. But Kandaules' wife sees Gyges and knows of her husband's involvement. So, she later calls Gyges to her and gives him a choice: kill Kandaules, marry her, and become the new king OR she'll get Kandaules to kill him. He chooses the former option and his descendents rule Lydia down to the days of Croesus. 

You Always Seem About to Pay

pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest - Ovid, Ars Amatoria I.444

"Anyone can be rich in promises." (lit. "things promised")

In this section of the Ars Amatoria, Ovid advises the prospective lovers how to avoid spending  money on gifts for their girlfriends. He advises they promise to give gifts, that way they don't have to actually give anything. As he puts it:

at quod non dederis, semper videare daturus:

  sic dominum sterilis saepe fefellit ager.

- I.449-450

"But that which you haven't given, may you always seem about to give:

Thus has a barren field often deceived its master."

So, naturally, I thought of Credit Cards.