Chap, 2.] PRINCIPAL VARIETIES OF FLAX. 133 



tia, in the vicinity of Alia, on the ^Emilian Way, the second, 

 place in general estimation. The linens of Faventia are pre- 

 ferred for whiteness to those of Alia, which are always un- 

 bleached : those of Retovium are remarkable for their extreme 

 fineness, combined with substance, and are quite equal in 

 whiteness to the linens of Faventia ; but they have none of 

 that fine downy nap M upon them, which is so highly esteemed 

 by some persons, though equally disliked by others. A thread 

 is made, too, from their flax, of considerable strength, smoother 

 and more even, almost, than the spider's web ; when tested 

 with the teeth, it emits a sharp, clear twang ; hence it is, that 

 it sells at double the price of the other kinds. 



But it is the province of Nearer Spain that produces a linen 

 of the greatest lustre, an advantage which it owes to the waters 

 of a stream which washes the city of Tarraco 27 there. The fine- 

 ness, too, of this linen is quite marvellous, and here it is that 

 the first manufactories of cambric 28 were established. From 

 the same province, too, of Spain, the flax of Zoe'la 29 has of late 

 years been introduced into Italy, and has been found extremely 

 serviceable for the manufacture of hunting-nets. Zoe'la is a 

 city of Callsecia, in the vicinity of the Ocean. The flax, too, 

 of Cumae, in Campania, has its own peculiar merits in the 

 manufacture of nets for fishing and fowling ; it is employed, 

 also, for making hunting-nets. For it is from flax, in fact, 

 that we prepare various textures, destined to be no less insi- 

 dious to the brute creation than they are to ourselves. It is 

 with toils made from the flax of Cumse that wild boars are 

 taken, the meshes being proof against their bristles, 30 equally 

 with the edge of the knife : before now, too, we have seen some 

 of these toils of a fineness so remarkable 31 as to allow of being 



36 " Lanugo." This is not generally looked upon as a merit in linen, at 

 the present day. 



27 Now Tarragona. See B. iii. c. 4. 



28 " Carbasus." This was probably the Spanish name originally for fine 

 flax, and hence came to signify the cambrics, or fine linen tissues made of 

 it. It seems, however, to have afterwards been extended to all kinds of 

 linen tissues, as we find the name given indifferently to linen garments, 

 sail-cloth, and awnings for the theatres. 



w See B. iii. a, 4. 



30 " Saetas ceu per ferri aciem vincunt." This passage is probably in a 

 mutilated state. 



31 There must either be some corruption in the text, or else Pliny must 

 have been mistaken. Nets such as these could have been of no possible 

 use in taking a wild boar. 



