Satire has ancient roots. The jibes and jabs of Aristotle’s student, Theophrastus, have been retranslated as Theophrastus’ Characters: An Ancient Take on Bad Behavior. The title comes from the author’s 95 short sketches of negative personality types, from the Sycophant and the Tactless Man through the Dullard and the Surly Man. A few of the characters overlap: The Pinchpenny makes the waiters at his daughter’s wedding bring their own food; the Miser forbids his wife to lend salt to the neighbors because “over the course of a year these many small things add up.” Both are simply cheap. Still with us today is the Babbler, who won’t let us finish a sentence, and his cousin the Talker, who relates his personal details to strangers and continues with inanities about the weather and the cost of living. Some of Theophrastus’ characters have gone extinct but most are still around, wearing jeans instead of togas.
