Roman statesmen were not wiser, in their day, than those of Greece. From the time of the Kings, they sought by law to regulate luxurious tendencies. We find it in the law of the Twelve Tables: “Do not carve the wood which is to serve for a funeral pile. Have no weeping women to tear their cheeks; no gold, no coronets.” Certain foreign articles of luxury were prohibited about 189 B. C. An important part of the legislation of Sulla, Cæsar, Crassus, Antony, Augustus and Tiberius, related to the expenditures for food, funerals and games of chance. Says Plutarch: “The Romans thought the liberty ought not to be left to each private citizen to marry at will, to choose his manner of life, to make feasts; in short, to follow his desires and his tastes, without being subject to the judgment and supervision of anyone.” The Oppian Law forbade matrons to have more than a half-ounce of gold, to wear garments of diversified color, or to use carriages in Rome. Following a revolt of the Women, in 195 B. C., this law was abrogated. Inspired by Cato, the Censor, fourteen years later, the Orchian Law was promulgated. It limited the table expenses, as did the Fannian Law twenty years after. The Lex Orchia limited the number of guests to be present at a feast. The general cost of entertainment was fixed by the Lex Fannia. A limit of one hundred asses was established for some festivals, and thirty asses for others. Ordinary entertainments were restricted to ten asses. The Didian Law extended to all Italy. In Greece, sumptuary laws were seldom or never regarded by the people, who always entered into a tacit and general conspiracy against their enforcement. Notwithstanding the Roman _notatio censoria_, luxury continued to increase with the growth of wealth. No law of senate or emperor could restrain the tendency. “From first to last,” writes the historian, “all were habitually transgressed.” In the time of Tertullian they appear to be of the past.