Vita Romanorum

Modern Decadence

Corporis exigua desideria sunt: frigus summoveri vult, alimentis famem ac sitim extinguere; quidquid extra concupiscitur, vitiis, non usibus laboratur. non est necesse omne perscrutari profundum nec strage animalium ventrem onerare nec conchylia ultimi maris ex ignoto litore eruere: di istos deaeque perdant quorum luxuria tam invidiosi imperii fines transcendit! ultra Phasin capi volunt quod ambitiosam popinam instruat, nec piget a Parthis, a quibus nondum poenas repetimus, aves petere. undique convehunt omnia nota fastidienti gulae; quod dissolutus deliciis stomachus vix admittat ab ultimo portatur oceano; vomunt ut edant, edunt ut vomant, et epulas quas toto orbe conquirunt nec concoquere dignantur. ista si quis despicit, quid illi paupertas nocet? si quis concupiscit, illi paupertas etiam prodest; invitus enim sanatur ... C. Caesar, quem mihi videtur rerum natura edidisse ut ostenderet quid summa vitia in summa fortuna possent, centiens sestertio cenavit uno die; et in hoc omnium adiutus ingenio vix tamen invenit quomodo trium provinciarum tributum una cena fieret. o miserabiles, quorum palatum nisi ad pretiosos cibos non excitatur! pretiosos autem non eximius sapor aut aliqua faucium dulcedo sed raritas et difficultas parandi facit ... libet dicere: “quid deducitis naves? quid manus et adversus feras et adversus homines armatis? quid tanto tumultu discurritis? quid opes opibus adgeritis? non vultis cogitare quam parva vobis corpora sint? nonne furor et ultimus mentium error est, cum tam exiguum capias, cupere multum?” licet itaque augeatis census, promoveatis fines, numquam tamen corpora vestra laxabitis. cum bene cesserit negotiatio, multum militia rettulerit, cum indagati undique cibi coierint, non habebitis ubi istos apparatus vestros conlocetis.

Seneca the Younger, De Consolatione ad Helviam Matrem 10. 2-6

By the 1st century BC, some rich Romans had turned to lives of conspicuous consumption. Lucius Licinius Lucullus (c. 118-56 BC) enjoyed a successful military career in the East. He was consul in 74 BC and celebrated a triumph in 63. When he returned to Rome in 67 BC after his lucrative victories over the kings of Pontus and Armenia, he distributed to the people almost a million pints of high-quality Greek wine. In retirement, he cultivated a life of decadent luxury. He introduced the apricot and cherry to Rome, and the fish from his preserves were sold after his death for four million sesterces. Commenting on the need for dietary moderation, the elder Pliny reports with disapproval that Lucullus gave one of his slaves the task of controlling his eating habits, requiring him actually to keep his hand away from the dishes when he was dining on the Capitol (Historia Naturalis 28.56).

Julius Caesar passed sumptuary laws to counter unduly extravagant living. He had luxuries confiscated in the market and sent armed men into private houses to remove high-priced delicacies when they had already been served (Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar 43).

Tacitus defines the period from Actium (31 BC) till the year of the four emperors (AD 69) as the zenith of decadent banqueting. He suggests that change finally set in either because the rich were ruined by their high living, or because their wealth made them conspicuous targets for exploitation, or because new Senators from outside Rome had simpler habits. He gives most of the credit to Vespasian’s old-fashioned way of life, but adds that perhaps there is in any case a cycle in customs, just as there are changes in the seasons (Annals 3.55).