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Sumptuariae Leges
Laws intended to limit and control the expenditure of the individual citizen.
The sumptuary legislation of Greece was contained for the most part in the codes of the great lawgivers. A rhetra of Lycurgus is said to have forbidden the Spartans to have their houses made by any more elaborate implements than the axe and the saw; simplicity of food and clothing was enjoined on the male members of the population; iron money was originally the only coinage in use ( Apophth. Lac. Lys. 3), and private possession of gold and silver was forbidden even after these metals were employed for public purposes ( Plut. Lys.17). By the laws of Zaleucus of Locri, we are told, the citizens of that State were forbidden to drink undiluted wine, except on the order of a physician, under pain of death (Athen. p. 429); while simplicity of dress and a limitation of the number of personal attendants were also enjoined. The Solonian legislation at Athens contained enactments against expensive feminine apparel and ornaments, particularly those given in the dowry (φερνή) of a bride, and against expensive funerals; there were also laws in force at Athens which limited the number of guests at entertainments (Athen. p. 245). Funeral regulations similar to those of Solon, we are told by Plutarch, existed in his native town of Chaeronea ( Plut. Sol.21).
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