48o 
* Wide Budewm. 
The three and thirtieth Booke _ 
men gathered together innumerable fummes of moheysand an infinitmafleof goods.yetthey G- | 
° 
fhali come nothing neare to the wealth of king Pro/omeus, who according to the teftimonie of 
M.Varro(at what time as Pompey the Great warred aboutlurie)maintained eight thoufand horf- 
men in pay continually with his owne privat purfe: kept an ordinarie table within his court of a 
thoufand perfons, and thofe had every man his owne cup of gold to drinkeoutof, and at each 
courfe and change of meats thatcame in newplate was {erved up ftillto the bourd. Thefe guefts 
of his fared fo highly,that a man would havefaid they had beenefranke-fed. But how farfhort 
was this mightie andfumptuous prince thinke yee(for I will fay no more now of kings) incom=- 
parifon of one Pytbis a Bithynian,who fent unto Darius the king a prefent of a Plane-tree, all 
entier of beaten gold, andwithall, that famous gold Vine; fomuchtrenowmed by all writers: - 
feafted the whole armie of that mightie monarch, & thofe were *788000 men : promifing over 
and above five months pay for them all,and corne for fo long toferve the whole campe,if of five 
fonnes that he bad of his ewne, theking would{pare him but one to beare him companie in his 
old age,and notpreft him for to ferve in the wars. Certes,a man that heareth thus much of this 
Pythins,might compare him with that rich Cre/ws king of Lydia.Butwhatfollic and madneffe in 
the devils name is this,to hunger & thirft fo much in this life after thatywhicheither iscommon — 
to bafe flaves and may fall unto them, or els whereof kings themfelves can find no end?And thus 
much of gathering good and heaping riches together, ' 13 
To come nowto the fcattering thereof, I find in the Chronicles, That in the yeare where- 
in Sp. Pofthumius and Qu.Martius were Confuls, they began at Rome to make largefles, and to 
fling money abroad to the common people. And at that time fuch plentie of coine there was 
ftitring at Rome, that the citie beftowed by a generall contribution upon Z#,Scip:o, asmuch as 
bare out his charges in exhibiting the folenane games and plaies untothe people. Asfor that 
purfe which was made for the funerals of Agrippa Menenivs, wherein every man put his fextant, 
athe fixt part of an As, Itake itto have beene nolargeffe, but a benevolence to teftifie howthe 
people honoured 4 ¢rippénis, and a supplic of meereneceffitie, confidering how poore the 
man died. i 
. r ' C wap, K Ie PS 
O& Of the fuperfluitie and frugalitie boshyof menin times paft, touching plate and filver 
vefsell. Of beds and tables of Silver. Alfowhen there were devifed 
chargers and platters of Silver to be made of huge 
capacitie beyond all meafure. 
' 
7" He world is given to {uch inconftancie as touching filver plate, that a wonder itis tofee 
i the nature of men how variable they bee in the fafhion and making of fuch veflell : for no 
workmanfhip will pleafe them long, One while we muft have our plate out of Farziw his 
fhop,another while wee will bee furnifhed from Clodivs :and againe in anew fit, none willcon- 
tent us but of Grariws his making(for our cupbourds of plateand tables, forfooth, muft beare 
the name of fuch and fuch Gold{miths fhops.) Moreover,when the toy takes us in the head, all 
our delightis in chafed and embofled plate ; orelfe fo carved, engraven,and deepe cut in, as it 
is rough againe in the hand, wrought in imagerie or floure-worke,as if the painter had drawne 
them. And newadaies we are growne to this pafle, that our difhes are fet upon the table borne 
up with feetand fupporters to fuftaine the viands and meat therein, but in any wife theirfides 
mutt bee pared very neare ; for herein I may tell you Jieth a great matter, andthe more that the 
fides and edges hath loft by the file,the richer isthe plate efteemed tobe. . ee 
As touching the veffell ferving in the kitchin : did Ca/vms the noble Oratourcomplaine in 
his time that it was of filver ? Why, wee in thefe dayes doe more than fo, forwee have devifed 
that cur coaches fhould bee all filver, and thofe curioufly wrought and engraven, And within 
the remembrance of man, even inthisage, Poppes the Emprefle, wifeto Nero the Emperour, _ 
_ was knowne to caufe her Ferrers ordinarily to {hoe her coach-hories and other palfreis fer her 
faddle (fuch efpecially as thee fet ftore by, and counted more daintie than the reft) with cleane 
gold. Towhatexcefle and prodigalitie is the world now growne.unto 2 Scipie Africanus the fe- 
oe 
1 hoe. SRD RLM: De rag yaar, 
"cond of that name when he died, leftno moreunto his heire in filver platceandcoine thantwo 
and thittie pound weight : and yet this worthie knight, when herode in triumph forthecon- 
qui 
