R.C. Jebb, English Men of Letters: Bentley, (p.7)

The next six years, from the twenty-first to the twenty-seventh of his age (1683-1689), were passed by Bentley in Dr. Stillingfleet’s family. It was during this period, when he enjoyed much leisure and the use of a first-rate library, that Bentley laid the solid foundations of his learning. He enlarged his study of the Greek and Latin classics, writing notes in the margin of his books as he went along. In those days, it will be remembered, such studies were not facilitated by copious dictionaries of classical biography, geography, and antiquities, or by those well-ordered and comprehensive lexicons which exhibit at a glance the results attained by the labors of successive generations. Bentley now began to make for himself lists of the authors whom he found cited by the ancient grammarians; and it may be observed that a series of detractors, from Boyle’s allies to Richard Dawes, constantly twit Bentley with owing all his learning to ‘indexes.’ Thus, in a copy of verses preserved by Granger, Bentley figures as

‘Zoilus, tir’d with turning o’er

Dull indexes, a precious store.'”

Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights 15.8

If you think that your relatives are overly-critical of your tastes or eating habits this Thanksgiving, you may be comforted (or disheartened) to know that gastronomic snobbery is a phenomenon with solid ancient precedent, as attested by this passage from Favorinus (cited by Gellius) concerning the luxury of bird consumption among the elite:

“These words, which I have added, are those of Favonius: ‘The foremost exponents of culinary affairs and luxury deny that a dinner is elegant unless, when you are dining at the height of pleasure, your dish is taken away and replaced by a better and even richer one. This is now considered the flower of culinary excellence among those for whom expense and fastidiousness take the place of elegance, and who deem it unseemly to eat the whole of any bird except the figpecker. Concerning other birds, they think that a dinner is cheap and shabby if the birds are not of such richness that the guests can become full just from eating the rumps; and moreover, they think that those who eat the upper part of a bird have rather unsophisticated palates. If luxury continues to increase at this rate, what will be left but that they order their food to be eaten for them, lest they become exhausted by eating, while their couches are decked out with more gold, silver, and purple for the use of a few humans than for all the immortal gods?'”

Verba haec, quae adposuimus, Favoni sunt: “Praefecti popinae atque luxuriae negant cenam lautam esse, nisi cum lubentissime edis, tum auferatur et alia esca melior atque amplior succenturietur. Is nunc flos cenae habetur inter istos quibus sumptus et fastidium pro facetiis procedit, qui negant ullam avem praeter ficedulam totam comesse oportere; ceterarum avium atque altilium nisi tantum adponatur, ut a cluniculis inferiore parte saturi fiant, convivium putant inopia sordere, superiorem partem avium atque altilium qui edint, eos palatum parum delicatum habere. Si proportione pergit luxuria crescere, quid relinquitur, nisi ut delibari sibi cenas iubeant, ne edendo defetigentur, quando stratus lectuls auro, argento, purpura amplior aliquot hominibus quam dis inmortalibus adornatur?”

Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, de Educatione Liberorum XXIV:

“Although we approve the speech of an educated tongue more than the habit of a silent prince, yet we would not recommend that a boy speak without forethought; for, that which is said or done without planning and without judgment is unable to be beautiful. Unpremeditated speeches, not only of boys but even of men, are loaded with levity and carelessness, but considerate thought does not allow a speech to wander off track. Why should I speak about boys, when even those famous orators, Pericles and Demosthenes, often refused to address the public when they said that they were unprepared? But if someone should let boys speak extemporaneously, he is setting the situation up for excessive talk. I would not have to much license of speech granted to you as a boy. Timely silence is the mark of great wisdom, and it has often troubled more people to have spoken finely than to have remained silent. That which is held in silence can easily be drawn out, but that which you have spoken can in no way be revoked. As Horace says, ‘a word, once it takes flight, can never be recalled.”

At nos linguae quamvis eruditae sermonem magis quam taciturni principis morem probemus, non tamen inpraemeditatum loqui puerum commendamus; quod enim inconsulto ac temere dictum factumve sit, id pulchrum esse nequit. Inpraecogitati sermones, nedum puerorum, sed virorum quoque plurima levitate atque incuria referti sunt, considerata vero meditatio orationem vagari non sinit. Quid dicam de pueris, quando illustres oratores, Pericles atque Demosthenes, saepius alloqui populum recusarunt, quia imparatos se esse dicebant. Si quis vero ex tempore pueros dicere sinat, extremae causam garrulitatis instituit. Nolo tibi nimiam puero sermonis patere licentiam; magnae sapientiae tempestivum silentium est, et nonnumquam sermone praestantius plures dixisse quam tacuisse paenituit. Quod silentio retentum est, effertur facile; quod semel edideris, revocari nullo modo potest. ‘Nam semel emissum,’ Flacco testante, ‘volat irrevocabile verbum.’