tiijlory of the Art of I^yelng, 20 J 



wards *, as our dyers do when they examine whether a co- 

 lour be genuine or not. 



Befides Tyre there were other places celebrated either on 

 account of their purple (hell-fifli or their method of prepar- 

 ing the dye. The following are often mentioned in the works 

 of the antients : 



The G^tulian purple, for which the niell-fi(h found on the 

 Gictulian coa(l were employed. A great deal of cloth, &c, 

 was dyed in particular in the ifland of Madura and Porto 

 San£lo, which on that account were by the antients called 

 the Purple Iflands [hifulte Purpurin^ ■[) , 



The Lacedemonian |. 



The Tarentinc. This had fomewhat brighter (liades §. 



At firft thefe kinds of purple were exceedingly rare at 

 Rome, but under Auguftus they became the fafliionable co- 

 lours ; though a pound of purple wool could not be procured 

 for lefs than a thoufand denarii, fomewhat more than 32/. 

 fterling. The almoft incredible prices at which this purple 

 was fold among the antients, is to be underftood, in ge- 

 neral, as applicable to thcfe kinds, as the others were much 

 cheaper. 



2d, Amethyft colour {color amethyjitnus), the preparation 

 of which I have defcribed as above. It was not fuch a dark 

 red as the firft kind, but inclined fomewhat to blue, like the 

 colour of the precious (lone from which it take^ its nnme. 

 This colour alfo had its different fliades, according to whicli 

 it was called fometimes color janthinus ||, and fometimes 

 fuccinus^. 



3d, Hyacinth colour {color conchyUuSyhyaclnthuSyCceruleus), 

 In the Bible this colour is called thechelet, from which the 

 Latin word conchjlmm is faid to be derived. As this colour 

 did not require fo much purple Uquor, it was not fo dear as 

 the former colours ; and in the time of Julius Ciefar a pound 

 of it ooll only 100 denarii, 5/. fterling. It, however, was- 



* Seneca Natur. Qued. i. 5. f Piiny, \\. 3:.. 



+ Pliny, xxi. S- § Ibid. ix. 39. 



' [i From yi', a kind of violet, which had An appearance i-lmilar to rhi-. 

 folour 



^ L. 70. Digcft. de Lcgatione- 



not 



