The famous line of Mark Antony in the William Shakespeare play, Julius Caesar, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears," must have been the inspiration of an 80-year-old retired Australian priest who appeared on Wednesday at the Perth Magistrates Court.

Father Thomas Henry Byrne was accused of biting the ear of another priest over a parking bay row with fellow retired priest and neighbour, Father Thomas Joseph Cameron Smith, who is 81.

The octogenarian clergyman was originally charged with the more serious offence of unlawful assault causing grievous bodily harm with aggravation, but the court downgraded the charge to assault causing bodily harm after a review of medical reports.

The incident happened on Nov 8, 2012 at the Daniella complex.

Mr Byrne, who renewed his bail, will return to the court on Feb 12 when he is expected to plead guilty to the lower charge.

The doddering priest is not the first ear-biter on record. In ancient and modern history, there are three other famous ear-biting or chopping incidents on record.

1. Mike Tyson - The incident happened on June 28, 1997 at the boxing match between heavyweights Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a rematch.

In the first two rounds, Tyson complained of head-butting. During the last 40 seconds of the third round, Holyfield had Tyson in a clinch, and Tyson rolled his head above his opponent's shoulder and bit Holyfield on the right ear, tearing a one-inch piece of cartilage from the top of the boxer's ear and spitting it on the ring floor.

Tyson made a second bite attempt on Holyfield's left ear, which resulted in the fight being stopped and disqualification of Tyson. Although Holyfield eventually forgave Tyson, the latter was suspended from boxing, his license eventually was permanently revoked and he was fined $3 million plus legal costs.

2. James Graham - He bit the ear of NRL player Billy Slater during the first half of the 2012 NGR Grand Final on Sept 30, 2012 between Melbourne Storm and the Canterbury Bulldogs at the ANZ Stadium. The two players were in a close headlock and video footage showed Canterbury's Graham biting Slater's ear, which bled. The latter complained the ear-biting to referee Tony Archer but officials did not see the incident, but it was placed on report.

3. Peter the Apostle - The incident happened about 2,000 years ago and is recorded in all the four Gospels of the Christian Bible. When soldiers sent by Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest, tried to arrest Jesus Christ, Peter attempted to stop it not by biting, but chopping the ear of Malchus, the servant of Caiaphas, using a sword. In Luke's account, Jesus even restored the ear of Malchus.

Ironically, two of the famous ear-biting/chopping incidents eventually led to forgiveness. Holyfield cited his being a Christian as his reason for such a compassionate act, while Jesus himself healed Malchus's ear. With the Perth case involving two priests, would forgiveness also come into the picture one day?