c. 350 / Syria

Falling Off the Donkey

Tags:: ancient Greece,; education,; language

A grammarian lost his balance and fell off his donkey
and, it was said, lost the gift of grammar too.
From that day on he lived an ordinary life as a private man,
without understanding anything he once had taught.
But with Glykon it was the exact opposite:
he knew little of our spoken language
and even less of grammar, but by riding Libyan donkeys
and repeatedly falling off them, he became a grammarian.

First Name Please enter a first name.

Last Name Please enter a last name.

Address Please enter an address.

Apt./Suite

City Please enter a city.

State Please select a state.

Postal/ZIP Code Please enter a valid
zip code.

Email Address Please enter a valid email address.

Country Please select a country.

Canadian subscribers add $10; All other international subscribers add $40.

More Voices in Time

Post a Comment

Name
Email
Remember personal info?

Comments (You may use HTML tags for style)
Verification

Note: Several minutes will pass while the system is processing and posting your comment. Do not resubmit during this time or your comment will post multiple times.

Published In

Means of Communication

About the Author

Apollinarius, from a poem. The author of two epigrams in the Greek Anthology—a vast compendium of short writings that date from as early as the seventh century BC to as late as the eleventh century—he is believed to be Apollinaris, a bishop of Laodicea, who countered the Arian heresy with his own doctrine, which too was deemed heretical by the Church and caused him to be excommunicated.

Making a film means, first of all, to tell a story. That story can be an improbable one, but it should never be banal. It must be dramatic and human. What is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out?