CHAP. 74.—DIFFERENT KINDS OF CLOTHS.
Varro informs us, he himself having been an eye-witness, that
in the temple of Sancus,[1] the wool was still preserved on the
distaff and spindle of Tanaquil,[2] who was also called Caia Cæ-
cilia; and he says that the royal waved[3] toga, formerly worn by
Servius Tullius, and now in the temple of Fortune, was made
by her. Hence was derived the custom, on the marriage of a
young woman, of carrying in the procession a dressed distaff
and a spindle, with the thread arranged upon it. Tanaquil was
the first who wove the straight tunic,[4] such as our young
people wear with the white toga;[5] newly-married women also.
Waved garments were at first the most esteemed of all: after
which those composed of various colours[6] came into vogue.
Fenestella informs us, that togas with a smooth surface, as well
as the Phryxian togas,[7] began to be used in the latter part of the
reign of Augustus. Thick stuffs, in the preparation of which
the poppy[8] was used, are of more ancient date, being mentioned by the poet Lucilius, in his lines on Torquatus. The
prætexta[9] had its origin among the Etrurians. I find that
the trabea[10] was first worn by the kings; embroidered garments
are mentioned by Homer,[11] and in this class originated the
triumphal robes.[12] The Phrygians first used the needle for
this purpose,[13] and hence this kind of garment obtained the
name of Phrygionian. King Attalus, who also lived in Asia,
invented the art of embroidering with gold, from which these
garments have been called Attalic.[14] Babylon was very famous
for making embroidery in different colours, and hence stuffs of
this kind have obtained the name of Babylonian.[15] The method of weaving cloth with more than two threads was in-
vented at Alexandria; these cloths are called polymita;[16] it
was in Gaul that they were first divided into chequers.[17] Metellus Scipio, in the accusation which he brought against
Cato,[18] stated that even in his time Babylonian covers for
couches were selling for eight hundred thousand sesterces, and
these of late, in the time of the Emperor Nero, had risen to
four millions.[19] The prætextæ of Servius Tullius, with which
the statue of Fortune, dedicated by him, was covered,[20] lasted
until the death of Sejanus; and it is a remarkable fact, that,
during a period of five hundred and sixty years, they had never
become tattered,[21] or received injury from moths. I myself
have seen the fleece upon the living animal dyed purple,
scarlet, and violet,—a pound and a half[22] of dye being used for
each,—just as though they had been produced by Nature in
this form, to meet the demands of luxury.
1. This deity was also called Sangus, or Semo Sancus; and Ovid, Fasti,
B. vi. c. 216, et seq., gives us much information concerning him. He was
of Sabine origin, and identical with Hercules and Dius Fidius. If we
may judge from the derivation of the name, it is not improbable that he
presided over the sanctity of oaths. His temple at Rome was on the
Quirinal, opposite to that of Quirinus, and near the gate which from him
derived the name of "Sanqualis porta." He was said to have been the
father of the Sabine hero Sabus.
2. According to the commonly received account, Tanaquil was the wife
of Tarquinius Priscus, and a native of Etruria; when she removed to
Rome, and her husband became king, her name was changed to Caia
Cæcilia.—B.
3. "Undulata;" it has been suggested that this means the same as our
stuffs which we term "watered."—B.
4. "Tunica recta;" according to Festus, it was "so called from being
woven perpendicularly by people standing."—B. It probably means woven
from top to bottom and cross-wise in straight lines.
5. Toga pura;" so called from being white, without a mixture of any
other colour.
6. "Sororiculata;" there is much uncertainty respecting the derivation
of this word and its meaning, but it is generally supposed to signify some
kind of stuff, composed of a mixture of different ingredients or of different
colours.—B. "Orbiculata," "with round spots," is one reading, and
probably the correct one.
7. According to Hardouin, these were cloths which imitated the crisp
and prominent hair of the Phryxian fleece, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 529. Some
editions read "Phrygianas."
8. "Papaverata;" there is considerable difficulty in ascertaining the
meaning of this word, as applied to garments. Pliny, in two other passages,
speaks of a certain species of poppy—"from this, linens receive a peculiar
whiteness," B. xix. "From this, linens receive a brilliant whiteness in
time," B. xx. c. 78. It would appear, in these cases, that the fibres of the
stem of the poppy were mixed with the flax; though, perhaps, this would
be scarcely practicable with wool.—B.
9. The prætexta is described by Varro as a white toga, with a purple
band; it was worn by males, until their seventeenth year, and by young
women until their marriage.—B.
10. The trabea differed from the prætexta, in being ornamented with
stripes (trabes) of purple, whence its name.—B.
11. Helen is introduced, Il. B. iii. 1. 125, weaving an embroidered garz
ment, in which were figured the battles of the Greeks and Trojans. It was
probably somewhat of the nature of modern tapestry.—B.
12. See B. ix. c. 60.
13. This passage, in which the needle is said to have been used, proves
that when the word I "pictæ" is applied to garments, it is equivalent to our
term "embroidered."—B.
14. Pliny refers to the "Attalica tunica," B. xxxiii. c. 29, and to the
"Attalica vestis," B. xxxvi. c. 20, and B. xxxvii. c. 6; Propertius speaks
of "Attalica aulæa," B. ii. c. 32, 1. 12, "Attalicas torus," B. ii. c. 13, 122,
and B. iv. c. 5, 1. 24, and "Attalicæ vestes," B. iii. c. 18, 1. 19.—B.
15. Plautus, Stich. A. ii. s. 2, 1. 54, speaks of "Babylonica peristromata,
consuta tapetia," "Babylonian hangings, and embroidered tapestry;" and
Martial, B. viii. Ep. 28, 1. 17, 18, of "Babylonica texta," "Babylonian
textures."—B.
16. From Martial's epigram, entitled "Cubicularia polymita," B. xiv. Ep.
150, we may conclude that the Egyptian polymita were formed in a loom,
and of the nature of tapestry, while the Babylonian were embroidered with
the needle. Plautus probably refers to the Egyptian tapestry, in the
Pseud. A. i. s. 2, 1. 14, "Neque Alexandrina belluata conchyliata tapetia"
—"Nor yet the Alexandrine tapestries, figured over with beasts and shells."
17. "Scutulis divider." This term may mean "squares," "diamonds,"
or "lozenges," something like the segments into which a spider's web is
divided. It is not improbable that he alludes here to the plaids of the
Gallic nations.
18. We have an account of this contention in Plutarch, and we may presume that this accusation was produced at that time.—B.
19. The first sum amounts to about £4,600 sterling, the latter to
£23,000.—B.
20. The following lines in Ovid, Fasti, B. vi. 1. 509, et seq., have been
supposed to refer to this temple, and prove that the account of it is correct.
"Lux eadem, Fortuna, tuaque est, auctorque, locusque.
"Sed superinjectis quis latet æde togis?
"Servius est ..."
"The same day is thine, O Fortune; the same the builder, the same the
site. But who is this that lies hid beneath the garments covering him?
It is Servius."
21. Perhaps "changed their colour" may be a better translation of "do—
fluxisse."
22. "Sesquipedalibus libris." It seems impossible to translate this literally. Hardouin explains it by supposing that the fleeces were dyed in
strips of three colours, each strip being half a foot in breadth, and that
three of these required a pound of the dyeing materials.—B.