A fact from Desultor appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 27 May 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that in Ancient Roman entertainment, a desultor was a performer who led several horses in full gallop—as many as six or eight at once—and leaped from one to another?
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Probably few of us know that a desultory reader has several books going at once, and reads now in one, now in another, jumping from book to book --Wetman 04:13, 27 May 2007 (UTC)Reply
Well, that's true, but it's hardly significant. The word "desultory" can be applied to all sorts of things. PeteVerdon 13:42, 27 May 2007 (UTC)Reply
Not significant to PeteVerdon; but if the user of desultory has lost the sub-text of "jumping from one thing to another" in intending meanings like "unmethodical" and "superficial", he may reveal himself as a bit of a wasilla. Desultory reading is not just uncomprehending: it requires more than one book— a bit of reading in one, then a bit of disconnected reading in another... Quite a significant connection, if you don't want to be taken for a wasilla.--Wetman 22:05, 13 November 2008 (UTC)
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
"Eustathius on Homer's Iliad, Lib. IV, assures us that riders might have up to six horses all abreast." It would probably be best if you cite the specific passage in the Iliad instead of "This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.", which should not really be a numerical footnote but a note on its own. -Oreo Priest 14:13, 27 May 2007 (UTC)Reply
It's not a specific entry in the Iliad, it's an entry in Eustathius's commentary on the Iliad. That's as specific a citation as we have, and I don't have access to the commentary to make it more specific. — BRIAN0918 • 2007-05-27 15:19Z
