Word: nero
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Satyricon of Petronius. A bawdy belly laugh at Nero's Rome delivered by the worldliest Roman of them all and translated with unexpurgated wit by Classicist William Arrowsmith...
Refined Voluptuary. The Satyricon-whose title may refer both to satire and to the customary activity of satyrs-is probably the work of Gaius Petronius. Nero's "arbiter of elegance." of whom Tacitus wrote: "He spent his days in sleeping, his nights in the enjoyment of life. That success which most men achieve by dint of hard work, he won by laziness. Yet unlike those prodigals who waste themselves and their substance alike, he was not regarded as either a spendthrift or a debauchee, but rather as a refined voluptuary...
...life of the book. Even Petronius' death was artfully arranged. When palace intrigue involved him in a treason charge, he opened his veins, chatted airily with his friends, recited some light poetry; then, placing a manicured thumb to an elegant nose, he wrote out a definitive list of Nero's bed partners and sent it off to the emperor before he lay back...
...ponder mathematics, he lived in a strange Paris apartment that consisted of three rooms on three floors. The legends about him spread: that he hypnotized those he was questioning by spinning a small silver spoon as he talked, that the 110-lb. German police dog at his side named Nero had once guarded Germany's Hermann Göring. One morning last December, France awoke to surprising news: without a word of explanation, Premier Charles de Gaulle had fired Wybot as chief of the D.S.T. and banished him to a dusty office as inspector of police schools...
...evokes little student excitement; few undergraduates understand the ideological foundations of Western Civilization; few find purpose or direction. Williams maintains that American colleges have not changed their attitudes or methods in at least the last forty years, even though the world has experienced drastic changes. He justifiably asks: "If Nero became infamous for fiddling while Rome burned, what will be the future reputation of the modern college professor...