Chapter 66.3 - non minimum?

[Phoebus Apollo]

itaque de scriblita quidem non minimum edi, de melle me usque tetigi.

Literal translation: 'And so, indeed, I did not eat very little of the tart...'

I can't tell whether this means "I ate a large helping of the tart" or "I did not eat anything at all of the tart"

I would be tempted to go for the first meaning, just because the following clause seems to imply he's got the honey from the tart smeared all over him. But the translations I've looked at vary in the meaning, and both commentaries I've read (Smith and Schmeling) don't discuss this - so help would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance

 

[Pacifica]

You are right; it means he ate a non-negligible quantity of it, that is, rather a lot.

 

[Phoebus Apollo]

You are right; it means he ate a non-negligible quantity of it, that is, rather a lot.

Thank you

 

[Dantius]

By the way, the rhetorical device found in phrases like this is litotes, where a double negative is used to express an emphatic positive.