To supply his pomp, earth and sea have been exhausted.

The rarest furs have been brought from the poles; the most costly tissues from the equator.

He has devoured at a meal the tribute of a city, and in a day that of a province.

He has surrounded himself with an army of women, eunuchs, and satellites.

They have instilled into him that the virtue of kings is to be liberal, and the munificence and treasures of the people have been delivered into the hands of flatterers.