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Philosophy: Florence

In the sumptuary laws of Florence the old burghers forbade indulgences in dress and ornament. "No woman of any condition whatever may dare, or presume in any way in the city, suburbs, or districts of Florence, to wear pearls, mother-of-pearl, or precious stones, on the head or shoulders, or on any other part of the person, or on any dress which may be worn on the person." The vanity of hoarding wealth in gold, silver, and precious stones, was never more painfully illustrated than in a remarkable instance recorded in the earliest periods of the world's history. This is given in "Biblical Monuments," by Dr. Rule and J.C. Anderson (1871-1873). In Genesis xli. 56, 57, we read: "The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to buy corn, because that the famine was so sore in all lands."