138 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOET. [Book XIX. 



merly at four denarii, the same rate, in fact, as gold. The 

 downy nap of linen, and more particularly that taken from 

 the sails of sea-going ships, is very extensively employed for 

 medicinal purposes, and the ashes of it have the same virtues 

 as spodium. 51 Among the poppies, too, 52 there is a variety which 

 imparts a remarkable degree of whiteness to fabrics made of 

 linen. 



CHAP. 5. AT WHAT PERIOD LINEN WAS FIRST DYED. 



Attempts, too, have even been made to dye linen, and to 

 make it assume the frivolous colours 53 of our cloths. This was 

 first done in the fleet of Alexander the Great, while sailing 

 upon the river Indus ; for, upon one occasion, during a battle 

 that was being fought, his generals and captains distinguished 

 their vessels by the various tints of their sails, and astounded 

 the people on the shores by giving their many colours to the 

 breeze, as it impelled them on. It was with sails of purple, 

 too, that Cleopatra accompanied M. Antonius to the battle of 

 Actium, and it was by their aid that she took to night : such 

 being the distinguishing mark of the royal ship. 



CHAP. 6. AT WHAT PERIOD COLOURED AWNINGS WERE FIRST 

 EMPLOYED IN THE THEATRES. 



In more recent 54 times linens alone have been employed 

 for the purpose of affording shade in our theatres ; Q. Catulus 

 having been the first who applied theai to this use, on 

 the occasion of the dedication by him of the Capitol. At a 

 later period, Lentulus Spinther, it is said, was the first to 

 spread awnings of fine linen 55 over the theatre, at the celebra- 

 tion of the Games in honour of Apollo. After this, Caesar, 



51 Impure oxide of metals, collected from the chimneys of smel ting-houses. 

 Fee says that Pliny on this occasion is right. 



52 In B. xx. c. 79, he speaks of the " heraelion" poppy, supposed by 

 some of the commentators to be identical with the one mentioned here. 



53 " Vestium insaniam." 



54 " Postea." Sillig would reject this word, as being a corruption, and 

 not consistent with fact, Catulus having lived before the time of Cleo- 

 patra. He suggests that the reading should he " Populo Romano ea in the- 

 atris spectanti umhram fecere." " Linen, too, has provided a shade for 

 the Roman people, when viewing the spectacles of the theatre." Lucretius, 

 B. iv. 1. 73, et seq. s speaks of these awnings as being red, yellow, and 

 iron grey. 55 " Carbasina." Cambric. 



