Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/General Florentius


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or on a Votes for Undeletion nomination).  No further edits should be made to this page.  

The result of the debate was delete. Rob Church Talk 23:51, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

General Florentius
Hoax. The short version: he lacks an entry in the Prosopography Of The Later Roman Empire (PLRE), which proves almost conclusively that he does not exist. And this saying about Flavius Aetius & Emperor Valentinian III the article attributes to him is more likely the utterance of Sidonius Apollinaris.

The long version: the PLRE is an exhaustive list of every individual who is recorded as living in the Roman world during AD 260 - 641. There are 7 men named Florentius in this book, none of whom fits the profile in this article: they lived at the wrong time, are not known to have lost of an arm or leg, or lacked a military career. While admittedly there are omissions in this list (an obvious example would be anyone mentioned only in inscriptions found & published after the completion of this work), the fact that that the author of such a "famous" saying would be overlooked is odd enough to merit a mention, an explanation for this oversight, & a reference to the primary source to prove his existence; the original author did not provide any of these. As I noted on the Talk page, I have traced the quotation attributed to this general at least as far back as Edward Gibbon, who claims he found it in the writings of Sidonius Apollinaris.

With this extensive argument I may be breaking a butterfly on a wheel, but I wanted there to be no doubt about this issue: General Florentius only existed in some anonymous contributor's imagination. -- llywrch 23:29, 12 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Delete, per Llywrch's convincing argument against the credibility of this article. -- Captain Disdain 00:11, 13 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete - I'm convinced. But please, start an article on the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, as it sounds like an eminently notable text! BD2412  talk 05:07, 13 October 2005 (UTC)
 * ...couldn't resist - started one myself (but it surely needs work!) BD2412  talk 01:45, 14 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment: what does "breaking a butterfly on a wheel" mean? I searched for it, but could find a definition. I'm just curious. -- Kjkolb 15:25, 13 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Guessing it's something like using a hammer to kill a fly. BD2412  talk 01:25, 14 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I took the phrase "breaking a butterfly on a wheel" (it was the first that came to mind) from a observation H.L. Mencken made of a critical essay two of his proteges, James Stevens and H. L. Davis. BD2412 defined it quite nicely (although I've heard "sledgehammer" used instead of simple "hammer"). -- llywrch 18:32, 15 October 2005 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in an undeletion request). No further edits should be made to this page.