Un νόμος sibaritico e i 'brevetti d'invenzione'

The starting point for our study is the reading of a reflection by GiacomoLeopardi to be found in his Zibaldone: “Invention patents were notunknown in the ancient republics”.This affirmation stems from the reading of a passage in the Deipnosophistsby Athenaeus of Naucratis. This is the part where Athenaeus mentions apassage he had read in the Histories of Phylarchus and which is presentedhere in a new interpretation.[Publisher's text]