H'l/Jorj' of the Art of Dyeing, 20^ 



iiobled h by the particular purpofes totwhich it was defined, 

 Jn the carlieil periods, and immediately after its invention, 

 it was confidered as the favourite colour of the gods. Nay, 

 the Deity himfelf feems to have conformed to the wcaknefs 

 and ideas of man by choofing it to be the nioft dillinguifhed 

 ornament of his houfe and his miniftcrs*. 



As the power and refpe6l of kings increafed, it was made 

 a fymbol of niajefty f; and this was carried fo far, that in 

 the time of the emperors it was confidered as a" particular 

 right belonging to the princes of the imperial houfe; fo that 

 immediately after their birth they were wrapped in purple 

 fwaddling-clothes, and by thcfe means obtained, as it were, 

 a title to the empire. Nay, it was confidered as an almofl 

 indifpenfable cercmonv in the choice of an emperor J that 

 the fuccefsful candidate fliould be clothed in purple ; and we 

 have inftanccs of the foldiers, when nothing: clfe was at hand, 

 tearing the purple from their ftandards and wrapping it round 

 the newly chofen emperor. 



In free republican dates this colour was a mark of the 

 highell official dignity. Thus the fupreme magiftrates at 

 Rome were diiiinguiflied by broader or narrower purple 

 flripes {lati et angujH clav'i), with which their clothes were 

 Lprdered behind and before. Hence it happened that purple, 

 which every one had been before at liberty to ufe, was by the 

 emperors made a regality; and when ailumcd by private per- 

 fons, or when a piece of purple was applied to another colour, 

 this crime was puniflicd with death as a kind of high treafon§, 



■■■ Exodus, xxvi. I. xxviii. 5, 6, 8. xxxviii. iR. xxxi:?;. JJ. Luther 

 tmnflates the word the^heht very improperly, yellow filk, which pn pcrlv 

 is fky blue, or hyacinth colour, and a kind of purple, as I ha^'c already 

 obfcrved 



f Hence purple is called fiicn murex in ihe Laws, Tir. c. de Vedib. 

 holober. et Inrin6t one facri Muricis; and hence the expre!(fion ndorare pm- 

 purum, lib. iv. c. dp Conful.- See G. Pancirollus An Rebys dipcrduis, 

 p. i, tit. 46. c. Commentar, Salmuth. *"<i^ 



^ Conftanrine VII. a Gteek emperor of the tcntif^'bentury, from this 

 ceremony g;ot the title of Porphyrogfrrv^fes \ that is, born in purple. 



§ This is mentioned, for the firll time, refpe^ting Ntro, in the life of 

 that emperor, by Suetonius. Fi/a Neronisy c. aj. L. i. c. Quae res venire 

 :*n;i poiT.^L. iii.c. de Veftib. holoberis. 



Vol. IX. * D d *ln 



