AFTERTHOUGHT ON CUCKOLDS
SIR,—Perhaps some PhD thesis will be written to establish that the cuckold was given horns in error. It could be illustrated with an example provided by Michelangelo with his statue of Moses, horned and holding the tablets of the law. It is thought that the sculptor, like his contemporaries, relied upon the Latin Old Testament produced by Jerome which had in it a mistake that by then had not been noticed. Jerome, when translating the Hebrew, misunderstood the part which said that when Moses returned from Mount Sinai his face shone and took it to mean that his face had horns.
Some of your learned and ingenious correspon- dents who so far have disappointed Alan Brien may be able to entertain him and the rest of us by conjecturing the sort of error which may have led to the cuckolds disfigurement. It could hardly be less likely than that of Jerome.
S. C. BUTLER
Ashbrook Lane, St. Ippolyts, Hitchin, Herts. .
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