BOOK XXXV. vLvi. 161-165 



would make thinner earthemvare. The pottery 

 of Cos is most famous for this, but that of Adria is 

 mo^^t substantial ; while there are also some instances 

 of severity also in relation to pottery. We find 

 that Quintus Coponius was found guilty of bribery 

 because he made a present of a jar of wine to a 

 person who had the right to a vote. And so that 

 luxury also may contribute some importance to 

 earthenware, the name of a service of three dishes, 

 we are told by Fenestella, used to denote the most 

 luxurious possible banquet : one dish was of lamprey, 

 a second of pike and a third of a mixture of fish. 

 Clearly manners were already on the decline, though 

 nevertheless we can still prefer them even to those 

 of the philosophers of Greece, inasmuch as it is 

 recorded that at the auction held by the heirs of 322 b.o. 

 Aristotle seventy earthenware dishes were sold. 

 We have already stated when on the subject of birds x. 141. 

 that a single dish cost the tragic actor Aesop 100,000 

 sesterces, and I have no doubt that readers felt 

 indignant ; but, good heavens, VitelHus when 

 emperor had a dish made that cost 1,000,000 sesterces, a.d. 69 

 and to make which a special furnace was constructed 

 out in open countrj^ as luxury has reached a point 

 when even earthenware costs more than vessels 

 of fluor-spar. It was o^^ing to this dish that 

 Mucianus in his second consulship, in a protest ^-^- ^o. 

 which he delivered, reproached the memory of 

 Vitelhus for dishes as broad as marshes, although 

 this particular dish was not more disgraceful than 

 the poisoned one by which Cassius Severus when 

 prosecuting Asprenas charged him with ha\ing caused 

 the death of 130 guests. Artistic pottery also con- 

 fers fame on to^^iis, for instance Reggio and Cumae. 



381 



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