The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-07-21
COTTON.
The Romans at Table.

With the Empire began that epoch of
splendid gluttony which has no parallel.
The history of the Caesars, with some ex-
ceptions, is the narrative of continual
orgie.
Verus the first to increase the num-
Der of guests from nine to twelve, pro-
longed his suppers throughout the night.
Nero sat at table from midday. to mid
night. Tiberius spent two days and
night at the festive board. They had
huge appetites-not only the gigantic
Macmillan, who devoured forty pounds
of fresh meat and drank five gallons of
wine at meal, but fnical dandies like
Commodus, who ate even in the bath :
Vitellius, who ceased eating only while
he slept; Domitian, who ate i"Tout. of his
hand to stay his stomach in the inter
walls of regular repast.
Heliogabalus was perhaps the most
elaborate, Vitellius the most extravagant
in his daily fare. The latter squandered
in seven months $35, 900, chiefly on,
his table. The total staggers belief; but
let us examine the figures on the other
side. The Roman epicure is reported to
have paid 1926 or so for mullet; a
brace of pigeons cost So: At an enter
tainment given to Yitellius by his broth
er, 1000 Of the rarest fish and 1000 of
the most curious birds were served up.
One individual spent $25, 900 on a single
dish, made of the tongues of the cost
lest singing birds The Roman bon
vivant, supping, ON the brains of pea
cocks and pheasants, the tongues of
nlghtingales and the roes of the most
delicate fishes swallowed thousands of
dollars at a meal and we need only
multiply the individual expense by the
number of the guests to form notion of.
the cost of high-class dinner in the
days of the Caesars. A supper in the
Apollo meant $4,000 thrown to the
puryeyors. But the Emperors were GER
tainly the most reckless in the profit
gacies of the table. Seneca and Tacitus
are among the authorities who tell us
that Heliogabalns spent 100000 on one
supper; that Nero, master of the House
of Gold, ate a dish which cost over
$4,000, and drank a bumper still
more precious. 1t is asserted further
that the Emperor Verus treated twelve
friends to feast which cost $3.50 900 !;
and Seneca is responsible for the state
ment that Caligula spent 100000 on
a supper.
The art of cookery was the most pop
ular science of old Rome. The Emperors
were among its most diligent students,
and took rank among its most successful
practitioners. Heliogabalus, Vitelhus.
Caracalla, fairly earned their notoriety
not only as gourmands, but as liberal
protectors of that peculiar talent which
consists In the extension of human en-
joyment by the discovery of fresh incen-
tive to the appetite. The literature of
the stew pan, as may be supposed was
IN profitable accord with the ruling taste.
Tiberius bestowed competence upon
the wit who wrote a dialogue between
the mushroom, the oyster, the thrush
and the becafco. This would have been
the golden age Of professional cookery
but that the expert was generally a
| slave. A cook, cried the contemporary
satirist, is as costly as a triumph, and a
fish is as dear as a cook A slave know
ing his business was valued at $4,000.
Plato, philosophy and all, was valued in
the slave market Of Syracuse at $3.50 a
year.
a copy OF the classic Mrs. Glasse has
come down to us, and most Of the re-
cipes are rather calculated to sicken than
to stimulate the modern palate. To
boil chicken in the fashion of Apicius
you will please put into mortar aniseed,
dried mint and lazer-root IAN Armenian
growth Of most detestable flavor and
SMELLY, cover them with vinegar. add
] linnanen oil (extraoted from fhe ,nrfr;d