around us. The upper classes were more concerned to 
     adorn life than to make it comfortable, to make 
     themselves illustrious rather than rich.
          Even in the middle classes a man was not entirely 
     devoted to the pursuit of comfort; the pursuit was often 
     abandoned for the desire of higher and more refined 
     pleasures; some other good rather than money was 
     everywhere the objective. ‘I know my countrymen,’ wrote 
     a contemporary, in a style fantastic but not wanting in 
     pride, ‘clever at melting and dissipating the metals, but 
     not ready to give them continuous worship; they will be 
     quite ready to return to their ancient idols—valor, glory, 
     and, I make bold to say, magnanimity.’