centuries to come, tantalizing the
scholars, amusing the curious gourmets if not educated cooks to the
present day.

APICIUS, THE MAN

Who was Apicius? This is the surname of several renowned gastronomers
of old Rome. There are many references and anecdotes in ancient
literature to men bearing this name. Two Apicii have definitely been
accounted for. The older one, Marcus A. lived at the time of Sulla
about 100 B.C. The man we are most interested in, M. Gabius Apicius,
lived under Augustus and Tiberius, 80 B.C. to A.D. 40. However, both
these men had a reputation for their good table.

ATHENAEUS ON APICIUS

It is worth noting that the well-read Athenaeus, conversant with most
authors of Antiquity makes no mention of the Apicius book. This
collection of recipes, then, was not in general circulation during
Athenaei time (beginning of the third century of our era), that,
maybe, it was kept a secret by some Roman cooks. On the other hand it
is possible that the Apicius book did not exist during the time of
Athenaeus in the form handed down to us and that the monographs on
various departments of cookery (most of them of Greek origin, works of
which indeed Athenaeus speaks) were collected after the first quarter
of the third century and were adorned with the name of Apicius merely
because his fame as a gourmet had endured.

What Athenaeus knows about Apicius (one of three known famous eaters
bearing that name) is the following:

"About the time of Tiberius [42 B.C.-37 A.D.] there
lived a man, named Apicius; very rich and luxurious, for
whom several kinds of cheesecake called Apician, are
named [not found in our present A.]. He spent myriads of
drachmas on his belly, living chiefly at Minturnae, a
city of Campania, eating very expensive crawfish, which
are found in that place superior in size to those of
Smyrna, or even to the crabs of Alexandria. Hearing,
too, that they were very large in Africa, he sailed
thither, without waiting a single day, and suffered
exceedingly on his voyage. But when he came near the
coast, before he disembarked (for his arrival made a
great stir among the Africans) the fishermen came
alongside in their boats and brought him some very fine
crawfish; and he, when he saw them, asked if they had
any finer; and when they said that there were none finer
than those which they had brought, he, recollecting
those at Mintur