Decadence at Rome
The dissoluteness of the young men in Rome had
note
grown to such a height, and broke out in such
extravagances, that there were many instances of
men purchasing a jar of Pontic salt-fish for three
hundred drachmae. note In reference to which Marcus Porcius
Cato once said to the people in indignation, that no better
proof could be shown of the degeneracy of the state than that
good-looking slaves note should fetch more than a farm, and a jar
of salt-fish more than a carter. . . .
