Apicius, MARCUS GABIUS, a Roman epicure, who lived in the times of Augustus and Tiberius, and was celebrated for his luxurious table and his acquirements in the art of cookery. It is said that when he had spent £800,000 upon his appetite, and had only some £80,000 left, he poisoned himself in order to avoid the misery of plain diet. Two other gourmands—one a contemporary of
Sulla, the other of Trajan—bore the name Apicius. The Roman cookery-book, Cœli Apicii de Opsoniis et Condimentis, sive de Re Culinaria, Libri decem, ascribed to Apicius, must belong to a much later time, inasmuch as it abounds in inaccuracies and solecisms. Its author thought proper to recommend his work to gourmands by affixing to it the celebrated name of Apicius.