Abstract
This article proposes that we add to the small number of Renaissance works on the art of creating or using facetiae an almost unknown De arte iocandi by an almost unknown Mattheus Delius, who died young. The work is a poem in four books, in Ovidian elegiac couplets, obviously inspired by the De arte bibendi of Vincentius Obsopoeus; both works have been assumed to be paradoxical encomia but are in fact serious albeit playful compendia of rules. Delius is interested not in the rhetorical use of jokes as weapons, but in something very close to Erasmus’s festivitas. The preface by Melanchthon almost qualifies as an independent art of joking, and together they add valuable information to our knowledge of Reformation wit.
- Journal
- Rhetorica
- Published
- 2003-06-01
- DOI
- 10.1353/rht.2003.0007
- CompPile
- Search in CompPile ↗
- Open Access
- Closed
- Topics
- Export
- BibTeX RIS
Citation Context
Cited by in this index (0)
No articles in this index cite this work.
Cites in this index (0)
No references match articles in this index.
Related Articles
-
Res Rhetorica Apr 2026The rhetorical dimension of the justification for the absence of direct military support for Ukraine in Joe Biden’s statements ↗Marta Kobylska
-
Rhetoric of Health and Medicine Feb 2026Aaron Beveridge; Meriel Burnett; John R. Gallagher
-
Pedagogy Jan 2026
-
Rhetoric of Health and Medicine Dec 2025Dorthea Roe; Jens Kjeldsen
-
Composition Forum Oct 2025