Lionel Casson

“Many of the so-called mystery religions, whose members were initiated in a secret ceremony and then worshipped with a secret ritual they were sworn never to divulge, arose on Greek soil... the ones that most affected the Roman world were the Dionysiac Mysteries.”
― Lionel Casson, Life in Ancient Rome

“peace and good cheer on festive days. It was voted further that any member who moves from one place to another [at a banquet] so as to cause a disturbance shall be fined 4 sesterces. Any member, moreover, who speaks abusively of another or causes an uproar shall be fined 12 sesterces. Any member who uses abusive or insolent language to a president at a banquet shall be fined 20 sesterces. . . . From the excavations at Ostia we get a good idea of what the headquarters of a rich society”
― Lionel Casson, Life in Ancient Rome