"
"In England, the same primitive simplicity prevailed; Queen Elizabeth
is said to have breakfasted on a gallon of ale, her dining-room floor
was strewn every day with fresh straw or rushes, and she had only one
pair of silk stockings in her entire wardrobe."
"At the same time," observed Ernest, "these usages stand in singular
contradiction to those that prevailed at an earlier age. The supper of
Lucullus rarely cost him less than thirty thousand francs, and he
could entertain five and twenty thousand guests. Six citizens of Rome
possessed a great part of Africa. Domitius had an estate in France of
eighty thousand acres."
"Poor fellow!"
"When Nero went to Baize he was accompanied by a thousand chariots and
two thousand mules caparisoned with silver. Poppaea followed him with
five hundred she asses to furnish milk for her bath. Cicero purchased
a dining-room table that cost him a million sesterces, or about two
hundred thousand francs. I can understand the progress of
civilization, and I can also understand civilization remaining
stationary for a given period; but I cannot understand why a citizen
of ancient Rome should be able to lodge twenty-five thousand men,
whilst a king of France could scarcely keep the ducks from waddling
about his apartments, and a queen of England could fare no better than
a ploughman.
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