What law persuades the Seric worm to spinThose shining threads, which, dyed with purple hue,Inflate, yet check the pride of mighty men?For, whilst they blaze in grand attire, the thoughtSteals on,—This splendid robe once cloth’d a worm:Type of our resurrection from the grave,It dies within the tomb itself has spun,That perishing abode, which is at onceIts house and tomb; in which it rots away,Till at the call of time it gladly leavesCorruption, and its ancient shape resumes.A little remnant of its mould’ring flesh,By processes unspeakable and dark,Restores the wonders of its earliest form.Yates’s Translation.
What law persuades the Seric worm to spinThose shining threads, which, dyed with purple hue,Inflate, yet check the pride of mighty men?For, whilst they blaze in grand attire, the thoughtSteals on,—This splendid robe once cloth’d a worm:Type of our resurrection from the grave,It dies within the tomb itself has spun,That perishing abode, which is at onceIts house and tomb; in which it rots away,Till at the call of time it gladly leavesCorruption, and its ancient shape resumes.A little remnant of its mould’ring flesh,By processes unspeakable and dark,Restores the wonders of its earliest form.Yates’s Translation.
What law persuades the Seric worm to spinThose shining threads, which, dyed with purple hue,Inflate, yet check the pride of mighty men?For, whilst they blaze in grand attire, the thoughtSteals on,—This splendid robe once cloth’d a worm:Type of our resurrection from the grave,It dies within the tomb itself has spun,That perishing abode, which is at onceIts house and tomb; in which it rots away,Till at the call of time it gladly leavesCorruption, and its ancient shape resumes.A little remnant of its mould’ring flesh,By processes unspeakable and dark,Restores the wonders of its earliest form.Yates’s Translation.
What law persuades the Seric worm to spin
Those shining threads, which, dyed with purple hue,
Inflate, yet check the pride of mighty men?
For, whilst they blaze in grand attire, the thought
Steals on,—This splendid robe once cloth’d a worm:
Type of our resurrection from the grave,
It dies within the tomb itself has spun,
That perishing abode, which is at once
Its house and tomb; in which it rots away,
Till at the call of time it gladly leaves
Corruption, and its ancient shape resumes.
A little remnant of its mould’ring flesh,
By processes unspeakable and dark,
Restores the wonders of its earliest form.
Yates’s Translation.
This author gives us an additional proof (Homil.17, § 9,) that the use of silken clothing was characteristic of dissolute women.
This great author mentions silk in numerous passages.
In his translation of Ezekiel xxvii. he has supposed silk (sericum) to be an article of Syrian and Phœnician traffic as early as the time of that prophet.
In his beautiful and interesting Epistle to Læta on the Education of her Daughter (Opp. Paris, 1546,tom.i.p.20. C.), he says:
Let her learn also to spin wool, to hold the distaff, to place the basket in her bosom, to twirl the spindle, to draw the threads with her thumb. Let her despise the webs of silk-worms, the fleeces of the Seres, and gold beaten into threads. Let her prepare such garments as may dispel cold, not expose the body naked, even when it is clothed. Instead of gems and silk, let her love the sacred books, &c.Because we do not use garments of silk, we are reckoned monks; because we are not drunken, and do not convulse ourselves with laughter, we are called restrained and sad: if our tunic is not white, we immediately hear the proverb, He is an impostor and a Greek.—Epist. ad Marcellum, De Ægrotatione Blesillæ, tom.i.p.156,ed. Erasmi, 1526.You formerly went with naked feet; now you not only use shoes, but even ornamented ones. You then wore a poor tunic and ablackshirt under it, dirty and pale, and having your hand callous with labor; now you go adorned with linen and silk, and with vestments obtained from the Atrebates and from Laodicea.—Adv. Jovinianum, l.ii.Opp. ed. Paris, 1546,tom.ii.p.29.
Let her learn also to spin wool, to hold the distaff, to place the basket in her bosom, to twirl the spindle, to draw the threads with her thumb. Let her despise the webs of silk-worms, the fleeces of the Seres, and gold beaten into threads. Let her prepare such garments as may dispel cold, not expose the body naked, even when it is clothed. Instead of gems and silk, let her love the sacred books, &c.
Because we do not use garments of silk, we are reckoned monks; because we are not drunken, and do not convulse ourselves with laughter, we are called restrained and sad: if our tunic is not white, we immediately hear the proverb, He is an impostor and a Greek.—Epist. ad Marcellum, De Ægrotatione Blesillæ, tom.i.p.156,ed. Erasmi, 1526.
You formerly went with naked feet; now you not only use shoes, but even ornamented ones. You then wore a poor tunic and ablackshirt under it, dirty and pale, and having your hand callous with labor; now you go adorned with linen and silk, and with vestments obtained from the Atrebates and from Laodicea.—Adv. Jovinianum, l.ii.Opp. ed. Paris, 1546,tom.ii.p.29.
In the following he further condemns the practice of wrapping the bodies of the dead in cloth of gold:
Why do you wrap your dead in garments of gold? Why does not ambition cease amidst wailings and tears? Cannot the bodies of the rich go to corruption except in silk?—Epist.L. ii.You cannot but be offended yourself, when you admire garments of silk and gold in others.—Epist.L. ii. No. 9,p.138,ed. Par.1613,12mo.
Why do you wrap your dead in garments of gold? Why does not ambition cease amidst wailings and tears? Cannot the bodies of the rich go to corruption except in silk?—Epist.L. ii.
You cannot but be offended yourself, when you admire garments of silk and gold in others.—Epist.L. ii. No. 9,p.138,ed. Par.1613,12mo.
Ἀλλὰ σηρικὰ τὰ ἱμάτια; ἀλλὰ ῥακίων γέμουσα ἡ ψυχή.Comment. in Psalm 48. tom.v.p.517.ed. Ben.Does the rich man wear silken shawls? His soul however is full of tatters.
Ἀλλὰ σηρικὰ τὰ ἱμάτια; ἀλλὰ ῥακίων γέμουσα ἡ ψυχή.Comment. in Psalm 48. tom.v.p.517.ed. Ben.Does the rich man wear silken shawls? His soul however is full of tatters.
Ἀλλὰ σηρικὰ τὰ ἱμάτια; ἀλλὰ ῥακίων γέμουσα ἡ ψυχή.Comment. in Psalm 48. tom.v.p.517.ed. Ben.
Ἀλλὰ σηρικὰ τὰ ἱμάτια; ἀλλὰ ῥακίων γέμουσα ἡ ψυχή.
Comment. in Psalm 48. tom.v.p.517.ed. Ben.
Does the rich man wear silken shawls? His soul however is full of tatters.
Does the rich man wear silken shawls? His soul however is full of tatters.
Καλὰ τὰ σηρικὰ ἱμάτια, ἀλλὰ σκωλήκων ἐστὶν ὕφασμα.(Quoted by Vossius, Etym. Lat. p.466.)Silken shawls are beautiful, but the production of worms.
Καλὰ τὰ σηρικὰ ἱμάτια, ἀλλὰ σκωλήκων ἐστὶν ὕφασμα.(Quoted by Vossius, Etym. Lat. p.466.)Silken shawls are beautiful, but the production of worms.
Καλὰ τὰ σηρικὰ ἱμάτια, ἀλλὰ σκωλήκων ἐστὶν ὕφασμα.(Quoted by Vossius, Etym. Lat. p.466.)
Καλὰ τὰ σηρικὰ ἱμάτια, ἀλλὰ σκωλήκων ἐστὶν ὕφασμα.
(Quoted by Vossius, Etym. Lat. p.466.)
Silken shawls are beautiful, but the production of worms.
Silken shawls are beautiful, but the production of worms.
Chrysostom also inveighs against the practice of embroidering shoes with silk thread, observing that it was a shame even to wear it woven in shawls. Such is the change of circumstances, that now even the poorest persons of both sexes, if decently attired, have silk in their shoes.
This author, describing the ceremonies at the nuptials of Theagenes and Chariclea, says, “The ambassadors of the Seres came, bringing the thread and webs of their spiders, one of the webs dyedpurple(!), the other white.”Æthiopica, lib.x.p.494.Commelini.
Salmasius (in Tertullianum de Pallio, p.242.) quotes the following passage froman uncertain author.
Ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ παρόντος βίου τερπνότης Ἰνδικῷ σκωληκιῷ, ὅπερ τῷ φυλλῷ τοῦ δένδρου συντυλιχθὲν, καὶ τῇ τροφῇ ἀσχοληθὲν, συνεπνίγη ἐν αὐτῷ τοῦ μεταξίου κουκουλίῳ.The pleasure of the present life is like the Indian worm, which, having involved itself in the leaf of the tree and having been satisfied with food, chokes itself in the cocoon of its own thread.—Yates’s Translation.
Ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ παρόντος βίου τερπνότης Ἰνδικῷ σκωληκιῷ, ὅπερ τῷ φυλλῷ τοῦ δένδρου συντυλιχθὲν, καὶ τῇ τροφῇ ἀσχοληθὲν, συνεπνίγη ἐν αὐτῷ τοῦ μεταξίου κουκουλίῳ.
The pleasure of the present life is like the Indian worm, which, having involved itself in the leaf of the tree and having been satisfied with food, chokes itself in the cocoon of its own thread.—Yates’s Translation.
This writer, whoever he was, appears to have had a correct idea of the manner in which the silk-worm wraps itself in a leaf of the tree, on which it feeds, and spins its tomb within[64].
[64]In the Royal Museum of Natural History at Leyden are eight or ten cocoons of the Phalæna Atlas from Java. They consist of a strong silk, and are formed upon the leaves of a kind of Ficus. The first layer of the cocoon covers the whole of a leaf, and receives the exact impress of its form. Then two or three other layers are distinctly perceptible. Two or three leaves are joined together to form the cocoon. In regard to the looseness of the layers these cocoons do not correspond to M. Breton’s description of the cocoons of the wild silk-worms of China, which are very strong and compact, and therefore more resemble those of the Phalæna Paphia.
[64]In the Royal Museum of Natural History at Leyden are eight or ten cocoons of the Phalæna Atlas from Java. They consist of a strong silk, and are formed upon the leaves of a kind of Ficus. The first layer of the cocoon covers the whole of a leaf, and receives the exact impress of its form. Then two or three other layers are distinctly perceptible. Two or three leaves are joined together to form the cocoon. In regard to the looseness of the layers these cocoons do not correspond to M. Breton’s description of the cocoons of the wild silk-worms of China, which are very strong and compact, and therefore more resemble those of the Phalæna Paphia.
[64]In the Royal Museum of Natural History at Leyden are eight or ten cocoons of the Phalæna Atlas from Java. They consist of a strong silk, and are formed upon the leaves of a kind of Ficus. The first layer of the cocoon covers the whole of a leaf, and receives the exact impress of its form. Then two or three other layers are distinctly perceptible. Two or three leaves are joined together to form the cocoon. In regard to the looseness of the layers these cocoons do not correspond to M. Breton’s description of the cocoons of the wild silk-worms of China, which are very strong and compact, and therefore more resemble those of the Phalæna Paphia.
The following sentence occurs in a speech of St. Lawrence at his martyrdom:
Hunc, qui superbit serico,Quem currus inflatum vehit;Hydrops aquosus lucidoTendit veneno intrinsecus.Peristeph. Hymn.ii.l.237-240.
Hunc, qui superbit serico,Quem currus inflatum vehit;Hydrops aquosus lucidoTendit veneno intrinsecus.Peristeph. Hymn.ii.l.237-240.
Hunc, qui superbit serico,Quem currus inflatum vehit;Hydrops aquosus lucidoTendit veneno intrinsecus.Peristeph. Hymn.ii.l.237-240.
Hunc, qui superbit serico,
Quem currus inflatum vehit;
Hydrops aquosus lucido
Tendit veneno intrinsecus.
Peristeph. Hymn.ii.l.237-240.
See him, attir’d in silken pride,Inflated in his chariot ride;The lucid poison works within,Dropsy distends his swollen skin.
See him, attir’d in silken pride,Inflated in his chariot ride;The lucid poison works within,Dropsy distends his swollen skin.
See him, attir’d in silken pride,Inflated in his chariot ride;The lucid poison works within,Dropsy distends his swollen skin.
See him, attir’d in silken pride,
Inflated in his chariot ride;
The lucid poison works within,
Dropsy distends his swollen skin.
In another Hymn to the honor of St. Romanus we find the following lines:
Aurum regestum nonne carni adquiritur?Inlusa vestis, gemma, bombyx, purpura,In carnis usum mille quæruntur dolis.Peristeph. Hymn.x.
Aurum regestum nonne carni adquiritur?Inlusa vestis, gemma, bombyx, purpura,In carnis usum mille quæruntur dolis.Peristeph. Hymn.x.
Aurum regestum nonne carni adquiritur?Inlusa vestis, gemma, bombyx, purpura,In carnis usum mille quæruntur dolis.Peristeph. Hymn.x.
Aurum regestum nonne carni adquiritur?
Inlusa vestis, gemma, bombyx, purpura,
In carnis usum mille quæruntur dolis.
Peristeph. Hymn.x.
To please the flesh a thousand arts contend:The miser’s heaps of gold, the figur’d vest,The gem, the silk-worm, and the purple dye,By toil acquir’d, promote no other end.
To please the flesh a thousand arts contend:The miser’s heaps of gold, the figur’d vest,The gem, the silk-worm, and the purple dye,By toil acquir’d, promote no other end.
To please the flesh a thousand arts contend:The miser’s heaps of gold, the figur’d vest,The gem, the silk-worm, and the purple dye,By toil acquir’d, promote no other end.
To please the flesh a thousand arts contend:
The miser’s heaps of gold, the figur’d vest,
The gem, the silk-worm, and the purple dye,
By toil acquir’d, promote no other end.
In the same Hymn (l.1015.) Prudentius describes a heathen priest sacrificing a bull, and dressedin a silken togawhich is held up by the Gabine cincture (Cinctu Gabino Sericam fultus togam). Perhaps, however, we ought here to understand that the cincture only, not the whole toga, was of silk. It was used to fasten and support the toga by being drawn over the breast.
In two other passages this poet censures the progress of luxury in dress, and especially when adopted by men.
Sericaque in fractis fluitent ut pallia membrisPsychomachia, l.365.The silken scarfs float o’er their weaken’d limbs.
Sericaque in fractis fluitent ut pallia membrisPsychomachia, l.365.
The silken scarfs float o’er their weaken’d limbs.
Sed pudet esse viros: quærunt vanissima quæqueQuîs niteant: genuina leves ut robora solvant,Vellere non ovium, sed Eoo ex orbe petitisRamorum spoliis fluitantes sumere amictus,Gaudent, et durum scutulis perfundere corpus.Additur ars, ut fila herbis saturata recoctisInludant varias distincto stamine formas.Ut quæque est lanugo feræ mollissima tactu,Pectitur. Hunc videas lascivas præpete cursuVenantem tunicas, avium quoque versicolorumIndumenta novis texentem plumea telis:Ilium pigmentis redolentibus, et peregrinoPulvere femineas spargentem turpitur auras.Hamartigenia, l.286-298.
Sed pudet esse viros: quærunt vanissima quæqueQuîs niteant: genuina leves ut robora solvant,Vellere non ovium, sed Eoo ex orbe petitisRamorum spoliis fluitantes sumere amictus,Gaudent, et durum scutulis perfundere corpus.Additur ars, ut fila herbis saturata recoctisInludant varias distincto stamine formas.Ut quæque est lanugo feræ mollissima tactu,Pectitur. Hunc videas lascivas præpete cursuVenantem tunicas, avium quoque versicolorumIndumenta novis texentem plumea telis:Ilium pigmentis redolentibus, et peregrinoPulvere femineas spargentem turpitur auras.Hamartigenia, l.286-298.
Sed pudet esse viros: quærunt vanissima quæqueQuîs niteant: genuina leves ut robora solvant,Vellere non ovium, sed Eoo ex orbe petitisRamorum spoliis fluitantes sumere amictus,Gaudent, et durum scutulis perfundere corpus.Additur ars, ut fila herbis saturata recoctisInludant varias distincto stamine formas.Ut quæque est lanugo feræ mollissima tactu,Pectitur. Hunc videas lascivas præpete cursuVenantem tunicas, avium quoque versicolorumIndumenta novis texentem plumea telis:Ilium pigmentis redolentibus, et peregrinoPulvere femineas spargentem turpitur auras.Hamartigenia, l.286-298.
Sed pudet esse viros: quærunt vanissima quæque
Quîs niteant: genuina leves ut robora solvant,
Vellere non ovium, sed Eoo ex orbe petitis
Ramorum spoliis fluitantes sumere amictus,
Gaudent, et durum scutulis perfundere corpus.
Additur ars, ut fila herbis saturata recoctis
Inludant varias distincto stamine formas.
Ut quæque est lanugo feræ mollissima tactu,
Pectitur. Hunc videas lascivas præpete cursu
Venantem tunicas, avium quoque versicolorum
Indumenta novis texentem plumea telis:
Ilium pigmentis redolentibus, et peregrino
Pulvere femineas spargentem turpitur auras.
Hamartigenia, l.286-298.
They blush to be call’d men: they seek to shineIn ev’ry vainest garb. Their native strengthTo soften and impair, they gaily chooseA flowing scarf, not made of wool from sheep,But of those fleeces from the Eastern world,The spoil of trees. Their hardy frame they deckAll o’er with tesselated spots: and artIs added, that the threads, twice dyed with herbs,May sportively intwine their various huesAnd mimic forms, within the yielding warp.Whatever creature wears the softest down,They comb its fleece. This man with headlong courseHunts motley tunics which inflame desire,Invents new looms, and weaves a feather’d vest,Which with the plumage of the birds compares:That, scented with cosmetics, basely shedsEffeminate foreign powder all around.
They blush to be call’d men: they seek to shineIn ev’ry vainest garb. Their native strengthTo soften and impair, they gaily chooseA flowing scarf, not made of wool from sheep,But of those fleeces from the Eastern world,The spoil of trees. Their hardy frame they deckAll o’er with tesselated spots: and artIs added, that the threads, twice dyed with herbs,May sportively intwine their various huesAnd mimic forms, within the yielding warp.Whatever creature wears the softest down,They comb its fleece. This man with headlong courseHunts motley tunics which inflame desire,Invents new looms, and weaves a feather’d vest,Which with the plumage of the birds compares:That, scented with cosmetics, basely shedsEffeminate foreign powder all around.
They blush to be call’d men: they seek to shineIn ev’ry vainest garb. Their native strengthTo soften and impair, they gaily chooseA flowing scarf, not made of wool from sheep,But of those fleeces from the Eastern world,The spoil of trees. Their hardy frame they deckAll o’er with tesselated spots: and artIs added, that the threads, twice dyed with herbs,May sportively intwine their various huesAnd mimic forms, within the yielding warp.Whatever creature wears the softest down,They comb its fleece. This man with headlong courseHunts motley tunics which inflame desire,Invents new looms, and weaves a feather’d vest,Which with the plumage of the birds compares:That, scented with cosmetics, basely shedsEffeminate foreign powder all around.
They blush to be call’d men: they seek to shine
In ev’ry vainest garb. Their native strength
To soften and impair, they gaily choose
A flowing scarf, not made of wool from sheep,
But of those fleeces from the Eastern world,
The spoil of trees. Their hardy frame they deck
All o’er with tesselated spots: and art
Is added, that the threads, twice dyed with herbs,
May sportively intwine their various hues
And mimic forms, within the yielding warp.
Whatever creature wears the softest down,
They comb its fleece. This man with headlong course
Hunts motley tunics which inflame desire,
Invents new looms, and weaves a feather’d vest,
Which with the plumage of the birds compares:
That, scented with cosmetics, basely sheds
Effeminate foreign powder all around.
A work remains under the name of Palladius on “The Nations of India and the Brachmans.” Whether it is by the same Palladius, who wrote the Historia Lausiaca, is disputed. But, as we see no reason to doubt, that it may have been written as early as his time, we introduce here the passages, which have been found in it, relating to the present subject. The author represents the Bramins as saying to Alexander the Great, “You envelope yourselves in soft clothing, like the silk-worms.” (p.17.ed. Bissœi.) It is also asserted, that Alexander did not pass the Ganges, but went as far as Serica, where the silk-worms produce raw-silk (p. 2.).
In the London edition this tract is followed by one in Latin,bearing the name of St. Ambrose and entitledDe moribus Brachmanorum. It contains nearly the same matter with the preceding. The writer professes to have obtained his information from “Musæus Dolenorum Episcopus,” meaning, as it appears from the Greek tract, Moses, Bishop of Adule, of whom he says,
Sericam ferè universam regionem peragravit: in quâ refert arbores esse, quæ non solum folia, sed lanam quoque proferunt tenuissimam, ex quâ vestimenta con ficiuntur, quæ Serica nuncupantur.p.58.He travelled through nearly all the country of the Seres, in which, he says, that there are trees producing not only leaves, but the finest wool, from which are made the garments called Serica.
Sericam ferè universam regionem peragravit: in quâ refert arbores esse, quæ non solum folia, sed lanam quoque proferunt tenuissimam, ex quâ vestimenta con ficiuntur, quæ Serica nuncupantur.p.58.
He travelled through nearly all the country of the Seres, in which, he says, that there are trees producing not only leaves, but the finest wool, from which are made the garments called Serica.
These notices are not devoid of value as indicating what were the first steps to intercourse with the original silk country. It may however be doubted, whether the last account here quoted is a modification of the ideas previously current among the Greeks and Romans, or whether it arose from the mistakes of Moses himself, or of other Christian travellers into the interior of Asia,who confounded the production of silk with that of cotton.
published A. D. 438, mentions silk (sericam et metaxam) in various passages.
Describing the products of different countries, this learned author says (Carmen.v.l.42-50),
FertAssyrius gemmas, Ser vellera, thura Sabæus.Th’ Assyrian brings his gems, the SerHis fleeces, the Sabean frankincense.
FertAssyrius gemmas, Ser vellera, thura Sabæus.Th’ Assyrian brings his gems, the SerHis fleeces, the Sabean frankincense.
FertAssyrius gemmas, Ser vellera, thura Sabæus.
Fert
Assyrius gemmas, Ser vellera, thura Sabæus.
Th’ Assyrian brings his gems, the SerHis fleeces, the Sabean frankincense.
Th’ Assyrian brings his gems, the Ser
His fleeces, the Sabean frankincense.
In a passage (Carmen.xv.), he mentions a pall,
Cujus bis coctus ahenoSerica Sidonius fucabat stamina murex.The Tyrian murex, twice i’ th’ cauldron boil’d,Had dyed its silken threads.
Cujus bis coctus ahenoSerica Sidonius fucabat stamina murex.The Tyrian murex, twice i’ th’ cauldron boil’d,Had dyed its silken threads.
Cujus bis coctus ahenoSerica Sidonius fucabat stamina murex.
Cujus bis coctus aheno
Serica Sidonius fucabat stamina murex.
The Tyrian murex, twice i’ th’ cauldron boil’d,Had dyed its silken threads.
The Tyrian murex, twice i’ th’ cauldron boil’d,
Had dyed its silken threads.
The expression here used, indicates that the silk thread wasbrought from the country of the Seres to be dyed in Phœnice. In Horace we have already noticed the “Coæ purpuræ.”
A passage from the Burgus Pontii Leontii (Carmen.xxii.), shows that the same article (Serica fila) was imported into Gaul.
In the same author (l.ii.Epist. ad Serranum) we meet with “Sericatum toreuma.” The latter word probably denoted a carved sofa or couch. The epithet “sericatum” may have referred to its silken cover.
The same author describes Prince Sigismer, who was about to be married, going in a splendid procession and thus clothed:
Ipse medius incessit, flammeus cocco, rutilus auro, lacteus serico.L.iv.Epist. p.107.ed. Elmenhorstii.He himself marched in the midst, his attire flaming with coccus, glittering with gold, and of milky whiteness with silk.
Ipse medius incessit, flammeus cocco, rutilus auro, lacteus serico.
L.iv.Epist. p.107.ed. Elmenhorstii.
He himself marched in the midst, his attire flaming with coccus, glittering with gold, and of milky whiteness with silk.
Describing the heat of the weather, he says:
One man perspires in cotton, another in silk.L.ii.Epist.2.
One man perspires in cotton, another in silk.
L.ii.Epist.2.
Lastly, in the following lines he alludes to the practice of giving silk to the successful charioteers at the Circensian games:
The Emp’ror, just as powerful, ordainsThat silks with palms be given, crowns with chains:Thus marks high merit, and inferior praiseIn brilliantcarpetsto the rest conveys.Carmen.xxiii.l.423-427.
The Emp’ror, just as powerful, ordainsThat silks with palms be given, crowns with chains:Thus marks high merit, and inferior praiseIn brilliantcarpetsto the rest conveys.Carmen.xxiii.l.423-427.
The Emp’ror, just as powerful, ordainsThat silks with palms be given, crowns with chains:Thus marks high merit, and inferior praiseIn brilliantcarpetsto the rest conveys.Carmen.xxiii.l.423-427.
The Emp’ror, just as powerful, ordains
That silks with palms be given, crowns with chains:
Thus marks high merit, and inferior praise
In brilliantcarpetsto the rest conveys.
Carmen.xxiii.l.423-427.
Describing the rich man in the parable of Lazarus, this author says:
Ipse cothurnatus gemmis et fulgidus auroSerica bis coctis mutabat tegmina blattis.L.iii. 222.In jewell’d buskins and a blaze of gold,Silk shawls, or twice in scarlet dipt, he wore.
Ipse cothurnatus gemmis et fulgidus auroSerica bis coctis mutabat tegmina blattis.L.iii. 222.In jewell’d buskins and a blaze of gold,Silk shawls, or twice in scarlet dipt, he wore.
Ipse cothurnatus gemmis et fulgidus auroSerica bis coctis mutabat tegmina blattis.L.iii. 222.
Ipse cothurnatus gemmis et fulgidus auro
Serica bis coctis mutabat tegmina blattis.
L.iii. 222.
In jewell’d buskins and a blaze of gold,Silk shawls, or twice in scarlet dipt, he wore.
In jewell’d buskins and a blaze of gold,
Silk shawls, or twice in scarlet dipt, he wore.
Avitus also mentions “the soft fleeces sent by the Seres.”
Nor honey into wine they pour’d, nor mix’dBright Seric fleeces with the Tyrian dye.De Consol. Philos.ii.
Nor honey into wine they pour’d, nor mix’dBright Seric fleeces with the Tyrian dye.De Consol. Philos.ii.
Nor honey into wine they pour’d, nor mix’dBright Seric fleeces with the Tyrian dye.De Consol. Philos.ii.
Nor honey into wine they pour’d, nor mix’d
Bright Seric fleeces with the Tyrian dye.
De Consol. Philos.ii.
The Tyrians are chiefly known to us in commercial history for their skill in dyeing; the Tyrian purple formed one of the most general and principal articles of luxury in antiquity: but dyeing could scarcely have existed without weaving, and though we have no direct information respecting the Tyrian and Sidonian looms, we possess several ancient references to their excellence, the less suspicious because they are incidental. Homer, for instance, when Hecuba, on the recommendation of the heroic Hector, resolves to make a rich offering to Minerva, describes her as selecting one of Sidonian manufacture as the finest which could be obtained.
The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe wentWhere treasured odors breathed a costly scent;There lay the vestures of no vulgar art—Sidonian maids embroider’d every part,Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris boreWith Helen, touching on the Tyrian shore.Here, as the queen revolved with careful eyesThe various textures and the various dyes,She chose a veil that shone superior far,And glow’d refulgent as the morning star.Iliad, vi.
The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe wentWhere treasured odors breathed a costly scent;There lay the vestures of no vulgar art—Sidonian maids embroider’d every part,Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris boreWith Helen, touching on the Tyrian shore.Here, as the queen revolved with careful eyesThe various textures and the various dyes,She chose a veil that shone superior far,And glow’d refulgent as the morning star.Iliad, vi.
The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe wentWhere treasured odors breathed a costly scent;There lay the vestures of no vulgar art—Sidonian maids embroider’d every part,Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris boreWith Helen, touching on the Tyrian shore.Here, as the queen revolved with careful eyesThe various textures and the various dyes,She chose a veil that shone superior far,And glow’d refulgent as the morning star.Iliad, vi.
The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe went
Where treasured odors breathed a costly scent;
There lay the vestures of no vulgar art—
Sidonian maids embroider’d every part,
Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris bore
With Helen, touching on the Tyrian shore.
Here, as the queen revolved with careful eyes
The various textures and the various dyes,
She chose a veil that shone superior far,
And glow’d refulgent as the morning star.
Iliad, vi.
Tyre appears to have been the only city of antiquity which made dyeing its chief occupation, and the staple of its commerce. There is little doubt that purple, the sacred symbol of royal and sacerdotal dignity, was a color discovered in that city; and, that it contributed to its opulence and grandeur. It is related that a shepherd’s dog, instigated by hunger, having broken a shell on the sea shore, his mouth became stained with a color, which excited the admiration of all who saw it, and that the same color was afterwards applied with great success to the dyeing of wool. According to some of the ancient writers, this discovery is placed in the reign of Phœnix, secondKing of Tyre (five hundred years before the Christian era); others fix it in that of Minos, who reigned 939 years earlier or, 1439 B. C. The honor of the invention of dyeing purple, is however, generally awarded to the Tyrian Hercules, who presented his discovery to the king of Phœnicia; and the latter was so jealous of the beauties of this new color, that he forbade the use of it to all his subjects, reserving it for the garments of royalty alone. Some authors relate the story differently: Hercules’ dog having stained his mouth with a shell, which he had broken on the seashore, Tysus, a nymph of whom Hercules was enamored, was so charmed with the beauty of the color, that she declared she would see her lover no more until he had brought garments dyed of the same. Hercules, in order to gratify his mistress, collected a great number of the shells, and succeeded in staining a robe of the color she had demanded. “Colored dresses,” says Pliny[65], “were known in the time of Homer (900 B. C.), from which the robes of triumph were borrowed.” Purple habits are mentioned among the presents made to Gideon, by the Israelites, from the spoils of the kings of Midan. Ovid, in his description of the contest in weaving between Minerva and Arachne, dwells not only on the beauty of the figures which the rivals wove, but also mentions the delicacy of shading by which the various colors were made to harmonize together:
[65]Plin. viii. 48.
[65]Plin. viii. 48.
[65]Plin. viii. 48.
Then both their mantles button’d to their breast,Their skilful fingers ply with willing haste,And work with pleasure, while they cheer the eyeWith glowing purple of the Tyrian dye:Or justly intermixing shades with light,Their colorings insensibly uniteAs when a shower, transpierced with sunny rays,Its mighty arch along the heaven displays;From whence a thousand different colors riseWhose fine transition cheats the clearest eyes;So like the intermingled shading seemsAnd only differs in the last extremes.Their threads of gold both artfully dispose,And, as each part in just proportion rose,Some antic fable in their work disclose.—Metam.vi.
Then both their mantles button’d to their breast,Their skilful fingers ply with willing haste,And work with pleasure, while they cheer the eyeWith glowing purple of the Tyrian dye:Or justly intermixing shades with light,Their colorings insensibly uniteAs when a shower, transpierced with sunny rays,Its mighty arch along the heaven displays;From whence a thousand different colors riseWhose fine transition cheats the clearest eyes;So like the intermingled shading seemsAnd only differs in the last extremes.Their threads of gold both artfully dispose,And, as each part in just proportion rose,Some antic fable in their work disclose.—Metam.vi.
Then both their mantles button’d to their breast,Their skilful fingers ply with willing haste,And work with pleasure, while they cheer the eyeWith glowing purple of the Tyrian dye:Or justly intermixing shades with light,Their colorings insensibly uniteAs when a shower, transpierced with sunny rays,Its mighty arch along the heaven displays;From whence a thousand different colors riseWhose fine transition cheats the clearest eyes;So like the intermingled shading seemsAnd only differs in the last extremes.Their threads of gold both artfully dispose,And, as each part in just proportion rose,Some antic fable in their work disclose.—Metam.vi.
Then both their mantles button’d to their breast,
Their skilful fingers ply with willing haste,
And work with pleasure, while they cheer the eye
With glowing purple of the Tyrian dye:
Or justly intermixing shades with light,
Their colorings insensibly unite
As when a shower, transpierced with sunny rays,
Its mighty arch along the heaven displays;
From whence a thousand different colors rise
Whose fine transition cheats the clearest eyes;
So like the intermingled shading seems
And only differs in the last extremes.
Their threads of gold both artfully dispose,
And, as each part in just proportion rose,Some antic fable in their work disclose.—Metam.vi.
Some antic fable in their work disclose.—Metam.vi.
The Tyrian purple was communicated by means of several species of univalve shell-fish. Pliny gives us an account of two kinds of shell-fish from which the purple was obtained. The first of these was calledbuccinum, the otherpurpura[66]. A single drop of the liquid dye was obtained from a small vessel or sac, in their throats, to the amount of onlyone dropfromeachanimal! A certain quantity of the juice thus collected being heated with sea salt, was allowed to ripen for three days, after which it was diluted with five times its bulk of water, kept at a moderate heat for six days more, occasionally skimmed, to separate the animal membranes, and when thus clarified, was applied directly as a dye to white wool, previously prepared for this purpose, by the action of lime-water, or of a species of lichen called fucus. Two operations were requisite to communicate the finest Tyrian purple; the first consisted in plunging the wool into the juice of the purpura, the second into that of the buccinum. Fifty drachms of wool required one hundred of the former liquor, and two hundred of the latter. Sometimes a preliminary tint was given with cocus, the kermes of the present day, and the cloth received merely a finish from the precious animal juice. The color appears to have been very durable; for Plutarch observes in his life of Alexander[67], that, at the taking of Susa, the Greeks found in the royal treasury of Darius a quantity of purple stuffs of the value of five thousand talents, which still retained its beauty, though it had lain there for one hundred and ninety years[68].
[66]Plin. Lib. vi. c. 36.[67]Plutarch, chap. 36.[68]The true value of the talent cannot well be ascertained, but it is known that it was different among different nations. The Attic talent, the weight, contained 60 Attic minæ, or 6000 Attic drachmæ, equal to 56 pounds, 11 ounces, English troy weight. The mina being reckoned equal to £3 4s.7d.sterling, or $14 33 cents; the talent was of the value of £193 15s.sterling, about $861. Other computations make it £225 sterling.The Romans had the great talent and the little talent; the great talent is computed to be equal to £99 6s.8d.sterling, and the little talent to £75 sterling.2.Talent, among the Hebrews, was also a gold coin, the same with a shekel of gold; called also stater, and weighing only four drachmas. But the Hebrew talent of silver, calledcicar, was equivalent to three thousand shekels, or one hundred and thirteen pounds, ten ounces, and a fraction, troy weight.—Arbuthnot.
[66]Plin. Lib. vi. c. 36.
[66]Plin. Lib. vi. c. 36.
[67]Plutarch, chap. 36.
[67]Plutarch, chap. 36.
[68]The true value of the talent cannot well be ascertained, but it is known that it was different among different nations. The Attic talent, the weight, contained 60 Attic minæ, or 6000 Attic drachmæ, equal to 56 pounds, 11 ounces, English troy weight. The mina being reckoned equal to £3 4s.7d.sterling, or $14 33 cents; the talent was of the value of £193 15s.sterling, about $861. Other computations make it £225 sterling.The Romans had the great talent and the little talent; the great talent is computed to be equal to £99 6s.8d.sterling, and the little talent to £75 sterling.2.Talent, among the Hebrews, was also a gold coin, the same with a shekel of gold; called also stater, and weighing only four drachmas. But the Hebrew talent of silver, calledcicar, was equivalent to three thousand shekels, or one hundred and thirteen pounds, ten ounces, and a fraction, troy weight.—Arbuthnot.
[68]The true value of the talent cannot well be ascertained, but it is known that it was different among different nations. The Attic talent, the weight, contained 60 Attic minæ, or 6000 Attic drachmæ, equal to 56 pounds, 11 ounces, English troy weight. The mina being reckoned equal to £3 4s.7d.sterling, or $14 33 cents; the talent was of the value of £193 15s.sterling, about $861. Other computations make it £225 sterling.
The Romans had the great talent and the little talent; the great talent is computed to be equal to £99 6s.8d.sterling, and the little talent to £75 sterling.
2.Talent, among the Hebrews, was also a gold coin, the same with a shekel of gold; called also stater, and weighing only four drachmas. But the Hebrew talent of silver, calledcicar, was equivalent to three thousand shekels, or one hundred and thirteen pounds, ten ounces, and a fraction, troy weight.—Arbuthnot.