Pasquin

Legendary cobbler of Rome, celebrated for his gibes. The name Pasquin was also given to the mutilated statue of a gladiator, found under a pavement near the Palazzo Orsini in 1501. It became customary to attach to this statue satirical verses, or ‘pasquinades’, directed against prominent people. The satires were mostly epigrammatic replies to topical questions attached to a nearby statue of Marforio.

A well-known example is: ‘Marforio: E vero, Pasquino, che tutti Francesi sono ladri?’ ‘Pasquino: Tutti, no, ma buona parte.’ (‘Is it true, Pasquin, that all Frenchmen are thieves?’ ‘All, no, but the greater part of them.’) This was directed against, and was a pun upon, the name of Napoleon Bonaparte, at the French occupation of Rome.