SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #2071 - cooking vegetables
Philip & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
Sat Apr 1 08:08:04 PST 2000
Devra at aol.com wrote:
>
> Um--The Emperor Augustus, who was apparently a kind of oldfashioned, down
> country boy, had a favorite proverb, which was "Quicker than boiled
> asparagus..." (This info via the Claudius books of Robert Graves, which may
> or may not be really true--- :-}
Most of Graves' fictional account is based on Suetonius' "The Twelve
Caesars", for which Graves produced probably the definitive edition and
translation. I seem to recall Graves translates Suetonius' paraphrase
(or quote, I dunno) of Augustus' favorite expresson as, "Let it be done
quicker than boiling asparagus!" Suetonius inserts a little explanation
to the urban ignorant, to the effect that asparagus cook quickly!
I don't recall the expression being used more than once or twice in "I,
Claudius", but it appears frequently in the screenplay for the BBC TV
series.
Adamantius, who has survived [almost] into middle age with half his wits
while thousands have died with all of theirs intact! Evidently quality
of wits is more important than quantity!
[All right, if you haven't figured it out, that was _my_ favorite line...]
- --
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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