[232-2] Plin., H. N., XXXVII, 7; XVIII, 2; Seneca, Quaest. Natur., I, 17; Consol. ad. Helviam, 12.
[232-3] Seneca, Quaest. Natur., III, 18; Plin., H. N., IX, 30.
[232-4] Seneca, De Benef., VII, 9; Plin., N. N., VIII, 74.
[232-5] Valer. Max., IX, 1; Seneca, Epist, 122. Thus Hortensius sprinkled his trees with wine. Macrob., Sat., III, 13.
[232-6] Besides Cleopatra, Caligula especially did this frequently. Compare also Horat., Serm., II, 3, 239 ff. Similarly, the luxury of the actor Aesopus, when he placed a dish worth 6,000 louis d'or before his guests, consisting entirely of birds which had been taught to sing or speak. Pliny, H. N., X, 72. Compare Horat., loc. cit., 345.
[232-7] Sueton.., Caligula, 37. Hoc est luxuriae propositum, gaudere perversis. Seneca., Epist., 122. According to the same letter of Seneca, the luxury of Nero's time had its source rather in vanity than in sensuality and gluttony.
[232-8] Martial, V, 79; Plin., H. N. XIII, 5. Seneca, De Brev. Vitæ. I, 12.
[232-9] Seneca, Cons. ad Helviam 10, Martial, III, 22.
[232-10] Hence, early limited by law. Sueton.. Caes. 10. Augustus limited the exiles to taking 20 slaves with them: Dio Cass. VII, 27. Special value attached to dwarfs, buffoons, hermaphrodites, eunuchs, precisely as among the moderns in the times of the degenerated absolutist courts, the luxury of which is closely allied in many respects to that of declining nations.
[232-11] Caligula's wife wore, on ordinary occasions, 40,000,000 sesterces worth of ornaments. Plin. H. N. IX, 58.