The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1881-03-24
THE ROMANS AT TABLE.

no parallel. The history OF the
Caesars, with some exceptions, is
the narrative of continual orgie.
Verus, the first to increase the
number of guests, from nine to
twelve, prolonged his suppers
throughout the night. Nero sat at
the table from midday to midnight
Tiberius spent two days and night
at the festive board. They had
huge appetites-not only the gigan-
tic Macmillan, who devoured forty
pounds of fiesh-meat and drank FIVE
gallons Of wine at a meal. but fini-
cal dandies like Commodus, who
ate even in the bath; Vitellius, who
ceased eating only while he slept;
Domitian, who ate ''out Of his hand''
to stay his stomach in the intervals
Of regular repast.
Heliogabalus was perhaps the
most elaborate, Vitellius the most
extravaganza, in his daily fare. The
latter squandered in seven months
$35, 100000, chiefly on his table,
The total staggers belief; but let US
examine the figures on the other
side. The Roman epicure is report
ed to have paid 1926 or so for
mullet; a brace of pigeons cost s..
At an entertainment given to Vi
tellius by his brother, 1900 Of the
rarest fish and 1000 of the most
curious birds were served up. One
individual spent $685. 900 on a single
dish, made Of the tongues Of the
costliest singing birds. The Roman
bon vivant, supping on the brains
of peacocks and pheasants, the
tongues Of nightingales and the
roes Of the most delicate fishes
swallowed thousands of dollars at
meal; and we need only multiply
the individual expense by the num-
Der of the guests to form a notion
of the cost of a high-class dinner in
the days of the Caesars. a supper
in the Apollo meant $4,000 thrown
to the purveyors. But the Emper-
ors were certainly the most reckless
in the profigacies of the table
Seneca and Tacitus are among the
authorities who tell Us that Heliog
abalus spent 100000 on one sup
per; chat Nero, master Of the House
of Gold, ate a dish which cost over
S15O,000, and drank a bumper still
more precious. It is asserted furth-
er that the Emperor Verus treated
twelve friends to a feast which cost
$4,000; and Seneca is responsible
for the statement that Cahgula spent
100000 a supper.
The art Of cookery was the most
popular science Of old Rome. The
Enperors were among it's most
diligent students, and took rank
among its most successful praeti-
TONERS. Heliogabalus, Vitellias,
CaracaiIa, fairly earned their motor
iety not only as gourmands, but as
liberal protectors CT shat peculiar
talent which consists in the extern
sion OF human enjoyment by the
discovery of fresh incentives to the
appetite. The literature Of the
stewpan, as may be supposed, was
in profitable accord with the ruling
taste. Tiberius bestowed q compe-
tence upon the wit who wrote a Ola
logue between the mushroom, the
oyster, the thrush and the becafico.
This would have been the golden
age Of professional cookery but that
the expert was generally s slave. 4
cook, cried the contemporary satir-
ist, is as costly as triumph, and
fish is as dear as a cook. a slave
knowing his business was valued at
$4,000. Plato, philosophy and all,
was valued in the slave market of
Syracuse at $3.50.
4 copy Of the classic Mrs. Glasse
has come down 10 US, and most Of
the recipes are rather calculated to
sicken than to stimulate the modern
palate. To boil chicken IN the
fashion Of Apicius you will please
put into a mortar aniseed, dried
mint and lazer-root IAN Armenian
growth Of most detestable flavor
and smelD, cover them with vine
gar, add liquamen oil Extracted
from the putrid entrails of fish,, a
small quantity of mustard seeds;
reduce all to apropef thickness with
sweet wine, and then pour the same
over your chicken which should be
previously boiled in aniseed-water
The menu, of which this mess is a
specimen, must have been, in many
respects, revolving, but it probably
was grateful to the stomachs of "a
great people and a strong" We
can well believe Pliuv when he saws