Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-10-22
The Luxury of Ancient Rome.

The Roman knight, at morning, threw off
the %coverlet, wrought with needle work at
Babylon, and raised the tapestry of Tyre
which hung before the entrance of his cham
Der. He entered his bathroom, the walls of
which glistened with the marble of AleXan-
drla beautifully adorned with Numidian car
wings. He assembled to his dining-room, fur
nlshed with Gre"ian statuary and pictures,
sunk upon his Persian couch, and, instead
Of sitting at table like his sturdy ancestors,
reclined after the fashion of the conquered
East. tie wrote his letters upon paper from
the land of the Pharaohs and P~tolemies,
and read from parchment manufactured at
Pergamus. lie anointed himself with the
perfumes of Arabia the Happy. The iron Of
Spain served him for weapons. His dice
were made from the ivory Of India. He won
his races with the horses of Epirus. Around
the neck of his wife hung pearls from the
German excursion. His funeral litter was
borne by slaves from beyond the Mediterra-
mean, and his Ilieless remains turned to dust
in a tomb of. porphyry quarried in the Island
OF the Egean.-Literary ReUiew.
"The luxury of ancient Rome if the
above is a fair description of it, is not remar-
kably Impressive to a modern reader. Ma
ny an humble man, in the cities of this new
world, which was unknown TO Cicero and
Caesar, quite rivals the magnilicence of the
Roman knight
"At his morning meal, our modern imbibes
the fragrant detection of a berry unknown TO
the ancients, brought to him from lands be-
yond their Ophir, in ships naviga!ed by
means of a discovery of which they never
heard. The delicious beverage is sweeten-
ed with a preparation which they never at
tanned to the art Of manufacturing, borne tc
him from a country Of which they never drea.
med.
awhile, at his dinner, his own vast coun.
try furnishes the contents of all the substan
tial dishes sirloins from beeves fattened OF
the p~rairies Of the Great West-pastry moul
ded from the products of its teeming fields
and enlivened by the fruits of its glowing or
chards-his casters display the oil of Flo
renee and the pepper of Sumatra-and hi
desert is enriched by the olives of Seville
the raisins of Malaga, the figs of Greece, thu
dates of Syria, and the oranges of Cuba, 81
ely, and the Azores.
"His drinks, unless he has Joined the SON
of total abstinence, are the wines Furnished
by Madeira, Aeres, Burgundy, and the Rhine
The world is ransacked for the materials O
his clothing. The wool of Saxony, the fla,
OF Ireland, lhe colton oil leAas ana The Sc
Islands, the silks of China, Italy, and France
the furs Of Kamskatcha and the frozen zones
contribute of their warmth, richness, and lus
tire to protect and embellish his outer man.
His wife-lhough she neither tolls nor spin
was ever Solomon so arrayed in all hi
glory? For her, hunters are chasing the a
paca on the mountains of Peru, and the sheE
herd is folding his locks on the classic field
of Iberia for her, the miner is exploring III
dark caverns Of Hungary for the topaz an
ruby, and troops of blackamoors are washin
the diamond earth of Brazil; for her, the d
vers of Ormus and California are plungin
into frightful ocean depths for pearls, and tn