aphrodite's girdle
Preserved but no longer current.
The cestus (#.v.). Apicius (a pis' i us) A gourmand. Marcus Gafaius Apicius was a Roman gourmand of the time of Augustus and Tiberius, whose income being reduced by his luxurious living to only ten million sesterces (about £80,000), put an end to his life, to avoid the misery of being obliged to live on plain diet.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “aphrodite's girdle” mean?
The cestus (#.v.). Apicius (a pis' i us) A gourmand. Marcus Gafaius Apicius was a Roman gourmand of the time of Augustus and Tiberius, whose income being reduced by his luxurious living to only ten million sesterces (about £80,000), put an end to his life, to avoid the misery of being obliged to live on plain diet.
Is “aphrodite's girdle” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.