https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Götz_von_Berlichingen_(Goethe)
The first version of the drama included a quote that gained fame fast. In the third act, Götz is under siege by the Imperial Army in his castle at Jagsthausen. The captain of the army asked him to surrender; from a window, he gives his answer:
Mich ergeben! Auf Gnad und Ungnad! Mit wem redet Ihr! Bin ich ein Räuber! Sag deinem Hauptmann: Vor Ihro Kaiserliche Majestät hab ich, wie immer, schuldigen Respekt. Er aber, sag’s ihm, er kann mich im Arsch lecken!
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand, act 3, Goethe’s Werke, vol. 8 (1889), p. 109 It can be translated as:
Me, surrender! At mercy! With whom do you speak? Am I a robber! Tell your captain that for His Imperial Majesty, I have, as always, due respect. But he, tell him that, he can lick me in the arse!
Goethe based this passage on the autobiography of the historical Götz, who records himself as saying (in a different context) “er solte mich hinden lecken” (“He can lick me on the behind”).[3] (In reality, the besieger was Götz himself.)
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It’s even more impressive than he achieved all that with the left arm prosthesis in place of the right arm.
I had to go in and check if anyone else noticed or if my hands were backwards from normal
![The two iron prosthetic hands, on display at Jagsthausen Castle. [Wikipedia]](https://lemm.ee/pictrs/image/9f569f8d-0e52-4a82-a08d-166b5c8ae597.jpeg)
Wikipedia photo of the actual prosthetics on display at Jagsthausen Castle.
I was gonna say the post shows a left hand
I heard of a guy so rich he had something like this but made of gold instead of iron.
I heard his dad shits gold, and his only friend initiated a period of hyperinflation in Westeros
This sounds an aweful much like Guts from Berserk by Kentarou Miura. Is there any information about this being his inspiration? I hope so 👍
Was that the asshole who spent ages in his autobiography glorifying how he beat a guy to death for looking at him funny?
first known usage
And this was all after the fall of the Roman Empire? I find it difficult to believe…
The Romans liked to give things a more active phrasing. In the words of the beloved poet Catullus…
Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullus_16#Latin_text_and_translation
How humanity has managed to get that far without any written record of this splendid insult escapes me.
