THE OYSTER AND THE DOCTOR. 325 



tion of the palate, provided that in so doing we violate no 

 personal nor relative obligation. It requires a well-regu- 

 lated conscience to describe the precise line anyone should 

 observe ; but if the mere epicure has advanced to one 

 extreme, assuredly the other is occupied by such persons 

 as the monks of La Trappe, who confound self-mortifica- 

 tion with the highest virtue. 



Nor should it be overlooked that a broad line of 

 demarcation exists between the Romans named Apicius 

 and Lucullus, though it is often allowed to be effaced. 

 One of them lived under the reign of Tiberius, and became 

 notorious for discovering new sources of culinary enjoy- 

 ment, arranging more appetising combinations of those 

 formerly known, and ransacking every kingdom of nature 

 and every quarter of the globe then known, for fresh 

 'objects to stimulate and gratify his palate. This was the 

 man who, after squandering upwards of ^"800,000 on the 

 indulgence of his all-engrossing passion, hanged himself 

 because there remained only the scanty pittance of ^"80,000, 

 to the mere subsistence on which he thought, in his infa- 

 tuation, death was preferable. Sundry cakes, called- 

 apicia, long kept alive his memory among the Romans. 

 Apion, the grammarian, compiled a work on his luxuries, 

 and his name passed into a proverb associated with the 

 pleasures of the table. 



The life of each Apicius was, however, that of an 

 oyster he lived to eat. But Lucullus, though his feasts 

 were celebrated on a scale of extraordinary magnificence, 

 cultivated literature from his earliest years : he accumu- 

 lated a valuable library, which he opened to the free use of 

 the public ; he patronised men of letters ; he associated 

 with the Greek philosophers and literati, who in his day 

 swarmed in Rome ; he was remarkable for his equity and 



