Note 079 Pepper was a favourite ingredient of the most expensive Roman cookery, and the best sort commonly sold for fifteen 'denarii', or ten shillings, the pound. See Pliny, Hist. Natur. xii. 14. It was brought from India; and the same country, the coast of Malabar, still affords the greatest plenty; but the improvement of trade and navigation has multiplied the quantity and reduced the price. See Histoire Politique et Philosophique, etc., tom. i. p. 457.

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The History Of The Decline and Fall Of The Roman Empire— Chapter 31