Elizabeth Speller Quotes & Sayings

Pliny the Elder, the indefatigable encyclopedist of the Natural History, has barely a good word to say for them, and even that is expressed in the negative, as when he comments that 'Of the Greek sciences, it is only medicine that the Romans have not followed, thanks to their good sense,' or that 'amber provides an opportunity for exposing the false accounts of the Greeks. My readers should bear with me patiently, since it is important to realize that not everything handed down by the Greeks merits admiration. — Elizabeth Speller

Greeks were so much a part of the Roman world that, in the surviving texts, they are often more visible by the shadow they cast than by their actual written presence. — Elizabeth Speller

Alexander was laid in state in the city he had founded. A previous imperial visit had not been a complete success; Augustus, passing his hands over the inspirational features of the conqueror's corpse, broke off his nose. Whether it was repaired or the emperor removed it as a relic is unrecorded. — Elizabeth Speller

He had long been indifferent to which side won; he wished only that one or the other would do so decisively while he was still alive. — Elizabeth Speller