Plinies Naturall Hiftorie. F 
A. which they affourd: Howcheape be they #howreadieat hand? how fitted are they not oncly to 
fill che belly and fatisfie hunger,but alfoto pleafe the tooth and content the appetite swere it not 
thacwealth and fulneffe ftand in the way: the fame that loath all thingsels befide and difdaine 
(no marveile) thefe ordinarie viands. Well mought it be born with and fuffered,that apples and 
other fruits of the trees, fuch’as are more exquifite and fingular than the reft, in regard of theit 
beantie,bigneffe,pleafanrfavour, or ftraungeand monftrous manner of growing, even againft 
the conrfe of Nature ;that thefe dainties(I fay)thouldbe referved for our rich and mighrie men 
of the world; that poore mén fhould bee debarred and forbidden once totaft thereof . Infome 
forttollérable alfo itis, that great Stares and wealthie perforiages thould be ferved at theirtable 
with oldwines, finedand'tefined, wich wines delaied neatified, and guelded as it were by paling 
B througtan Ipoctas bag;that fuch fhould drinke nootherbut that which was wine before they 
were borne, howaged foever they beand far ftept in yeares, We may abide moreover, that our. 
graund -paunches andfyotous perfons have devifedfor theinfelves a delicate kind of meat out of 
corne and graine (which fhould ferve for bread only) and'the fame made of the fineftand pureft 
floure, boulted and fearfed from the reft,and none but that: to fay nothing of the curious worke 
in paftrie, the fine cakes, wafers, and marchpaines, artificially carved, engraved, and paintedin 
imagerie, as ifthefe wantons could not live torfooth but of fuch devifes. That there fhould be a 
difference alfo in bread, anfwerableto the diftinétion of States in the cittie, one fort for noble | 
Senators, another for the worthipfull knightsand Gentlemen, anda third forthe meanecom- 
moners and multitude. Finally, that ivother victuals there fhould bea defcent by fo many de- 
C_ grees, fronrthe higheftto the loweft, niay carrie fome apparence of reafon and be allowed. How 
then ? muftthere be a Giftin@tion therfore invented in woorts and garden pot-hearbs? Mult the a 
difference of perfons according to their purfe, appeare alfo ina dith of * three farthings price * Eeiam ano 
and no better? Surely I {ce no fenfe nor congruitie atall inthis. And yee forfooth fuch hearbs “/° "4" 
there be tharthetribes of Rome (the greater part I meane of the Roman citizens) may not pre- 
fume to eat ; as ifthe earth had broughrthem foorth for rich mea only, being no meat ywis for 
poorepeople. Why (fay they in {corne and contempt of povertie) here is the ftem of a woort 
fo well growne, hereis a cabbage fothriven and fed, that a poore mans boord will not hold ir; 
Cestes, dame Nature ordained at the firit, That Sperage fhould grow wild and commonly in all 
places of the field, as if {he meant thereby,that every man that would inight gather them for to 
D eat:and now behold, they are cherifhed carefully in gardens: and from Ravenna, you fhall have 
of thefe garden Sperages fo faire and big, as three of their crops or heads will weigh a good 
pound, and are foldafter three a Romane ‘As, O the monftrous bellies that be now adaies!5 the 
exceffive gluttonie and gourmandize which nowraigneth in the world! Is it any marveile that 
poore affes and fuch dum beafts may not feed upon * Thiftles, when the Commons of Rome * Cardtins. 
are reftrained and forbidden to eat* Thiftles and dare not once touch them? And yet here is hyn 
not all: our waters alfo bee diftinguifhed and fet apart for fome perfons;even the very Ele- better than 
ments whereof this worldconfilteth are diftind, fevered, and raunged into fundrie degrees, (0 hs 
and all at the pleafure of monyed men :for fome you fhall have to drinke fhow, others yce : and Tiittes. 
will you fee in one word their folly and vanitie ?the very miferie that high mountaines are pu- 
E ‘nifhed and plagued with, they make their pleafure of, and therewith content and delight the - 
throat. Thele men lay forto be provided of chilling cold againft the heat of Summer, and feeke 
by all means that they can poffible,to have {now remaine white ftill and frozen{asit firft was)out 
_ of winter feafon, even in the hoteft moneths of the yeare, which are mott oppofite unto the na- 
ture of fnow. Some there be, who firft (eth their water, and anon letit congeale againeto yce, 
after it was once fcalding hot. Wherby we may fee, how man never conrenteth himielie in Na- 
tures workes, butcroffe he will be alwaies and peevith; and look what pleafeth her,thall difpleafe 
him: for who ever would have thought that any one heatb fhould have grownefor thesich,and 
notas well forthe poore ? Well, let no man forall this, caftabout and looke toward mount Sa- 
cer,or Aventine hill ,that the Commoners againe fhould by way of infurreétion rife,and in the 
F heat of their bloud depart afide thither,asfometimes they did in a mutinous fit of theirs, in high 
diicontentment with the Nobilitie For what needs that, {ince they may be fure that Death fhors- 
ly will bring chem together,and make equall,betweene whom now for a whileRiches hath put 
bar,and made diftinétion of place and degree. 
But now itis time to returne againe unto our gardening, from which we were digtefled.Cet- 
: raine 
A a 
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