86 NATURAL HISTORY. [cH. V 



Lucullus, and of Pompey the Great, first making the 

 Romans acquainted with it. It is said that the Em- 

 peror Aurehan refused the request of his emperess, 

 who desired a robe of silk, stating that he could not 

 afford to purchase a vestment worth its weight in 

 gold. Tiberius decreed that none should wear gar- 

 ments made of so costly a material. Heliogabalus 

 was the first emperor who clothed himself in silk. 



It does not appear that the origin of this precious 

 material was known to the Romans for many centu- 

 ries ; for most of the classical authors suppose it to 

 have been the produce of a tree, probably from find- 

 ing the cocoons suspended by the worms to the 

 branches of the mulberry. Aristotle, hoAvever, 

 speaks of a large horned worm, which, after chan- 

 ging several times, spun a cocoon, which women dis- 

 entangled, and the threads thus obtained were sub- 

 sequently woven into stuff". This worm is stated by 

 the same author to be a native of the Island of Cos, ■ 

 and Pliny makes it feed on the oak and the cypress- 

 tree. It is probable, therefore, that this insect was 

 not the silkworm, for in the same proportion as the 

 silk obtained from the real insect was used among 

 the Romans, so the importation from the Island of 

 Cos was abandoned. 



In the middle of the sixth century, under the 

 reign of Justinian, two monks brought to Constan- 

 tinople the eggs of the wonderful insect which pro- 

 duced silk, as also the tree on which it was nourish- 

 ed. Previously to this time immense sums of 

 money went to Persia for the purchase of silk, a 

 commodity then much used. Justinian thought it 

 impolitic to enrich an enemy, when with little pains 

 the silkworm might be cultivated at home. He 

 therefore most amply rewarded the monks for in- 

 structing his people in the mode of rearing these in- 

 sects. From Conslantinople the culture of the silk- 

 worm spread over Greece, so that in less than five 

 hundred years, that portion of this country hitherto 



