Quotes from book
Deipnosophistae

Athenaeus Original title Δειπνοσοφισταί

The Deipnosophistae is an early 3rd-century AD Greek work by the Greco-Egyptian author Athenaeus of Naucratis. It is a long work of literary, historical, and antiquarian references set in Rome at a series of banquets held by the protagonist Publius Livius Larensis for an assembly of grammarians, lexicographers, jurists, musicians, and hangers-on. It is sometimes called the oldest surviving cookbook.


“Every investigation which is guided by principles of Nature fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach.”

VII, 11. Compare: "I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else", Samuel Johnson, in Life of Johnson (Boswell). 29 Vol. ii. Chap. ix. 1763.
Deipnosophistae (2nd century)

“Goodness does not consist in greatness, but greatness in goodness.”

XIV, 6. Compare: "They ’re only truly great who are truly good", George Chapman, Revenge for Honour, Act v. Sc. 2.
Deipnosophistae (2nd century)

“Dorion, ridiculing the description of a tempest in the "Nautilus" of Timotheus, said that he had seen a more formidable storm in a boiling saucepan.”

VIII, 19. Compare: "Tempest in a teapot" (proverb).
Deipnosophistae (2nd century)

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