Re: Not a true quote by Petronius

posted 2005 by John M Medaglia

See http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/p/pe/ petronius.htm for info on Petronius, dissolute courtier of Nero and author of Satiricon including

This quotation is not by Petronius; the earliest reference to it dates only to 1970. There are references to it originating among disgruntled British occupying forces in post-1945 Germany (Petronian Society Newsletter, May 1981). The true author is unknown.

and Asteroid 3244 Petronius named after the satirist 3244 Petronius is a  main belt  (Any of numerous small celestial bodies composed of rock and metal that move around the sun (mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter))  asteroid , which was discovered by Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and  Tom Gehrels in 1960. It is named after Petronius , the ancient Roman satirist  (died in 66) 

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