Petronius

Petronius was a Roman writer of the Neronian age; he was a noted satirist. He is identified with C. Petronius Arbiter, but the manuscript text of the Satyricon calls him Titus Petronius. Satyricon is his sole surviving work.

Satyricon

• Abiit ad plures
  • Translation: He has joined the great majority.
  • Sec. 42

• A man who is always ready to believe what is told him will never do well.
  • Sec. 43

• One good turn deserves another.
  • Sec. 45

• Litterae thesaurum est.
  • Translation: Education is a treasure.
  • Sec. 46

• Then the Sibyl! I saw her at Cumae with my own eyes hanging in a jar; and when the boys cried to her, 'Sibyl, what would you?' she'd answer, 'I would die' -- both of ‘em speaking Greek.'
  • Sec. 48
  • In the T. S. Eliot poem, "The Waste Land", this quote is written in Greek and Latin as follows: Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent: Σίβυλλα τί θέλεις; respondebat illa: ἀποθανεῖν θέλω. The translation generally associated with Eliot's poem is as follows: For with my own eyes I saw the Sibyl hanging in a bottle, and when the young boys asked her, 'Sibyl, what do you want?', she replied, 'I want to die' .

• Not worth his salt.
  • Sec. 57

• Beauty and wisdom are rarely conjoined.
  • Sec. 94

• Horatii curiosa felicitas.
  • Translation: The studied spontaneity of Horace.
  • Sec. 118

Misattributed

• We trained hard . . . but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
  • A quote by Charlton Ogburn (1911–1998) in "Merrill's Marauders: The truth about an incredible adventure" in the January 1957 issue of Harper's Magazine
  • Actual quote: "We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. Presumably the plans for our employment were being changed. I was to learn later in life that, perhaps because we are so good at organizing, we tend as a nation to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization."