Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Praegustator

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

PRAEGUSTA'TOR (προγευστής). A slave commissioned to taste the dishes at table before they were presented to his master; to discover if they were properly seasoned, and, more especially, as a safeguard against secret poison. The office was of Oriental origin, but adopted by the Greeks and Romans as luxury increased and morals declined. Suet. Claud. 44. Tac. Ann. xii. 66. Plin. H. N. xxi. 9. Xen. Cyr. i. 3.