One can be worth of hundreds – Gaius Petronius Arbiter

Gaius Petronius Arbiter (ca. 27–66 AD), a Roman courtier during the reign of Emperor Nero and the author of “Satyricon”, was once invited to attend a large banquet in the imperial palace.

All kinds of delicacies were served at the banquet and, by Nero’s order, the tables were decorated with naked virgins – more than a hundred of them.

When Petronius arrived, the emperor immediately sent a servant to ask him about his opinion regarding banquet’s decoration.

 

Petronius replied: “Tell your Emperor that a hundred naked girls are not as hundred times more exciting than a girl we cry for”.

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Threats – Mario Puzo

When the novel “The Godfather” was published, Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) threatened the author of the book, Mario Puzo (1920-1999), because he believed that he served the author as an inspiration for the fictional mobster, singer and actor in the book, Johnny Fontane.

Puzo was enraged after hearing Sinatra’s threats:

“I do remember him saying that if it wasn’t that I was so much older than he, he would beat the hell out of me. What hurt was that here he was, a northern Italian, threatening me, a southern Italian, with physical violence. This was roughly equivalent to Einstein pulling a knife on Al Capone. It just wasn’t done.”

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