A joke from Macrobius' ""Saturnalia"", ca. 5th century Hereupon Evangelus said: 'Servilius Geminus happened to be dining at the home of Lucius Mallius, then considered the best painter in Rome, when he saw Mallius' two ugly sons: ""You don't make children,"" he said, ""the way you make pictures."" ""That,"" said Mallius, ""is because I make children in the dark, pictures in the light.""' Hic Evangelus: Apud L. Mallium, qui optimus pictor Romae habebatur, Servilius Geminus forte coenabat: cumque filios eius deformes vidisset: Non similiter, inquit, Malli, fingis et pingis. Et Mallius: In tenebris enim fingo, inquit, luce pingo.