Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Plutarch

Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).

Ptolemy, son of Lagus, used, as a rule, to dine and sleep at his friends’ houses; and if ever he gave a dinner, he would send for their dishes and linen and tables, and use them for the occasion. He himself owned no more than were required for everyday use; and he used to say that it was more kingly to enrich than to be rich. [*](Cf. Aelian, Varia Historia, xiii. 13.)