Ancient Fragments

"The Tracking Satyrs" (c. 2nd century)
"What kind of a way to hunt is that, bent over and leaning down to the ground? ... You're lying there like a hedgehog fallen on the ground, or an ape sticking his head forward and having a temper tantrum.... Where on earth did you learn this, and how?"—Silenus to one of his satyr children, Ichneutae

This snippet of a once-lost comedic satyr play turned heads when scholars translated it in the early 20th century. The author, it turns out, was famed Greek tragedian Sophocles, who until a century ago had a reputation among classicists for being too serious to venture into this genre of light-hearted humor.

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