Ciceronian

White, P. (2023). Cicero and the Mirage of the Tirocinium Fori. American Journal of Philology 144(2), 221-25

googled it and just got repetitions saying yesss this is definitely real cicero. don' ask about the source it's fine :-)

putting the quote into google scholar and looking for results from the 19th century (because i dont really care about the later chain of errors if there's obvious evidence it was invented earlier. and it's a good guess) gives this, from the 1882 'cyclopedia of practical quotations, english and latin [really long title]':

which is baffling because it's the same idea but a different latin text and translation? and surely it's the source of the later 'translation' too, because the latin/translation here has 'majus, meliusve' (greater or better) whereas the later translation has 'greater and better' but no actualword for better in its latin......

Figurines of mice greet the visitors on the steps of the temple of Apollo in Turkey.

The temple was built during the 2nd century B.C., in the Troas region. It is dedicated to Apollo Smintheus (Lord of mice). The friezes of the temple depicted the war, which Homer recounted in his epic Iliad. In the epic itself, Apollo invoked as Smintheus is a terrific plague bringer.

In the consulship of whovius giveus ashittus, a plebeian tribune* proposed a law to stop setting poor people on fire to heat the homes of the senators. This sparked weeks of bloody fighting in the streets at the end of which the tribune was exploded badstyle and the law was unanimously voted down

The Dead Romans Society - Vates

-- Vitruvius trans. M.H. Morgan

"For instance, what Roman would blush to take his wife to a dinner-party? What matron does not frequent the front rooms of her dwelling and show herself in public? But it is very different in Greece; for there a woman is not admitted to a dinner-party, unless relatives only are present, and she keeps to the more secluded part of the house called 'the women's apartment,' to which no man has access who is not near of kin."

I think this one pretty clearly has an etruscan/italian root to it! like you say, I think the strongest & most compelling evidence is we can see this in a lot of etruscan art of banquets and parties:

and then we also have a couple bits from greek authors — in athenaeus' deipnosophistae he quotes this classic bit from theopompus (huge grain of salt as theopompus is obviously just saying whatever here, but I think we can take what he says about mixed gender dining, if not the implications of promiscuity, as pretty true, given our other material):

"And they dine not with their own husbands, but with anyone who happens to be present; and they pledge whoever they please in their cups : and they are amazingly fond of drinking, and very handsome."

(trans. younge)

and then there's this other bit (also via athenaeus) that quotes aristotle on the etruscans, saying they dine with their wives:

The Minotaur in the Labyrinth

The Minotaur in the Labyrinth stands as one of the ancient stories that has survived the test of time and continuously appears in mainstream entertainment. Most understand that this concept began with the story of Theseus of ancient Athens and how he navigated the labyrinth and slayed the beast within, but many don’t know the inspiration of this idea.

Nearly a millennia before Classical Greece rose to the height of its power (500-350 BCE) the two leading cultures of the Aegean Sea were the Mycenaeans on the mainland and the Minoans on modern day Crete, and it is on this island that we find the labyrinthian structures of Bronze age Greece.

The Bronze Age Palace at Knossos: Plan and Sections by British archaeologist Sinclair Hood and Canadian archaeologist William E, Taylor, Jr., published as Supplementary Volume No. 13 of The British School at Athens in 1981. It shows the archaeological remains of one of the many Minoan Palaces. Though mostly destroyed and crumbling, we can still see the complex layout of halls and rooms that twist, turn, and abruptly end. Beginning with the excavations of Sir Arthur Evans in 1900, scores of theories have been raised about the purpose of such confounding architecture, from a form of defense to a means of controlling foreign visits.  

Besides the confusing architecture, through no depictions of minotaurs were found, Minoan Palaces such as the one at Knossos did contained several pieces of art that depicted bulls. Upon further inspection, the symbol of the Bull was quite prominent throughout the ancient culture from sports, such as bull leaping, to religious sacrifice.

When looking to those who lived in the past, one should remember that we are not the only ones who inquired about archaeological remains. These ruins would’ve been seen by the Classical Greeks, but by that time their imaginations about the great Palaces and Bull iconography of the Minoan civilization was transformed into the myth of the Minotaur in the Labyrinth.

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