Learning through Laughter in Phaedrus' Fabulae

The fable-writer Phaedrus, a poet of the early first century CE, promises that his fables offer a double dowry:  they excite laughter, and they teach life lessons.  In this talk, Dr. Kristin Mann demonstrates that the two halves of this double dowry are connected:  fables teach lessons because they excite laughter.  What's more, Phaedrus promises that teaching through laughter allows the fabulist to safely criticize the behavior of anyone--even those in power--through the guise of joking.  Such is the power of Phaedrus' double dowry.