How to tell a joke with Cicero and Quintilian

[Based on How to Tell a Joke: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Humor, by Cicero, translated by Michael Fontaine. Full book series here.]

I probably don’t need to remind my readers of the accomplishments of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE): public advocate, orator, senator, Consul, savior of the fatherland (pater patriae), philosopher, and occasional poet. But did you know he was also one of the two funniest men of antiquity?

At least, that’s what Macrobius (flourished around 400 CE) says in a lite...