Quotes About Petronius

How illimitable is the gullibility of mankind, especially, it must be said, when combined with provincial ignorance. But Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur; that is to say, "If the world will be gulled, let it be gulled." Thus quoth Petronius, in the days of Our Lord, an aphorism just as pertinent to our own time.

In every human undertaking there is something which is not in our power and does not come within our calculations; the wish to win this for oneself is the origin of the gods. Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor is an old and true saying of Petronius.

It's the first novel [ Satyricon by Petronius] in which the size of a male character's genitals is noted, a detail you hardly ever get in George Eliot's novels.

PETRONIUS woke only about midday, and as usual greatly wearied.

[Of Petronius:] Nero… looked up to him as a decisive authority in matters of taste.