The Sharpest Tongue (2)

There is, of course, a downside to being sharp tongued and every ready with the perfect put-down, as the fate of Zoilus reveals. He was a scholar living in the 4th century BC from the Thracian town of Amphipolis. According to the Roman historian, Vitruvius, poor Zoilus met with a grisly fate, either stoned in Chios or thrown alive on to a funeral pyre at Smyrna. Either way, Vitruvius opined, his fate was well-merited.

So what was Zoilus’ crime? He had the audacity to criticise the poems of Homer, particularly in respect of their fabulous elements, but in the opinion of his peers he went more than a step too far. Although none of his works survive, Zoilus’ hallmark was harsh and malignant criticism, putting him beyond the pale, earning him the title of Homeromastix, scourge of Homer.

His bad reputation resurfaced after the Renaissance, Cervantes calling Zoilus a slanderer in the preface to his Don Quixote. There was a proverb, “every poet has his Zoilus” and zoilist became an English term, first deployed in 1594 by Thomas Nashe but now sadly obsolete, used to describe an overly-critical and judgmental nitpicker.

For those of us who indulge in literary criticism, it always pay to restrain our inner Zoilus.