Ucalegon
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Ucalegon (Ancient Greek: Οὐκαλέγων) was one of the Elders of Troy, whose house was set on fire by the Achaeans when they sacked the city. He is one of Priam's friends in the Iliad [1] and the destruction of his house is referred to in the Aeneid [2].
He is referenced in the Satires of Juvenal.[3] His name in Greek is translated as "doesn't worry." The name has become a word for "neighbor whose house is on fire."
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[edit] Usage in literature
- François Rabelais; Peter Anthony Motteux (1694). "XXII", Gargantua and Pantagruel IV. “But who is this Ucalegon below, that cries and makes such a sad moan?”
- Eneas Sweetland Dallas (1866). "Sans Merci: Or, Kestrels and Falcons", Once A Week, 244. “If Seyton's own roof-tree was still unsinged, the fire had made wild work, of late, with his neighbours' dwellings; and, from the disaster of the last of these unlucky Ucalegons, he was divided by a thin party-wall.”
- Thomas Frederick Kirby (1892). Annals of Winchester College, 333. “One of them, Peter Chamberlin, was burnt out; but this Ucalegon lived next door to the Castle, and suffered in consequence.”
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Illiad (3.148)
- ^ Aeneid (2.312)
- ^ Juvenal; Peter Green (1998). The Sixteen Satires III. ISBN 0140447040. “The 'heroic downstairs neighbour' of 198-9 if given by J. the Trojan name of Ucalegon. In Virgil's Aeneid (2.311) as Troy burns, Aeneas sees the nearby house go up in flames (Latin: iam proximus ardet Ucalegon): but by now (J. seems to be saying) the Trojan (or his descendant) has learned by experience - been there, done that - and has the sense both to occupy a ground-floor apartment and to shift his stuff to safety in good time. (Latin: iam friuola transfert Ucalegon). Roman listeners, who knew the Aeneid more or less by heart, would appreciate the parody.”
