17^ 



A. D. 73. 



[PUn. L. vi, c. ij ; L. xi, c. 22.] For upwards of a century the moralifls 

 and fatyrifts of Rome had execrated and ridiculed the indecent expofure 

 of the perfon by fuch gowns of glafs, fuch tranfparent clothing, ' if in- 

 deed it might be called clothing,' fays Seneca, ' when a woman drefled 

 ' in it could fcarcely fweai- that fhe was not naked ;' and yet it ftill kept 

 its ground *. 



There was another kind of filk of an inferior quality, faid to be pro- 

 duced by a fpecies of filk worms in the ifland of Cos, which fome of the 

 fine gentlemen of Rome wore in fummer, though the ufe of fuch effe- 

 minate drefs was difapproved by the graver people, and had adually 

 been forbidden by the fenate in the reign of Tiberius. [P/in. L. xi, 



c. 23 'Tac. ylnn. L. ii, c. 32, where, however it is called Jericum.'\ But 



the Aflyrian homhycina was refigned to thofe ladies, who could afford to 

 purchafe it : and thofe, whofe fortunes were not equal to their vanity, 

 \^'oxe.fubfericum, a fabric of filk with a mixture of cheaper materials f , 

 in the ufe of which the men afterwards began to indulge %. 



* If we may truft to the teftimony of Publtus 

 Syrus, a dramatic writer contemporar)' with Julius 

 Casfar, and after him Varro, TlbuUus, Propertius, 

 Horace, Seneca, Ph'iiy, and Juvenal, fome of the 

 T^oman ladies really did wear drefTes fo exceffively 

 thin, that their llvins adlually appeared through 

 tiicm : and that could fcarcely be an idle ground- 

 lefs tale, (like the modern news-paper (lories of 

 naked ladies in the llreets of London) which was 

 kept up 130 years. We mult fuppofe from thofe 

 authors, that the Roman ladies had no other 

 clothing under their thin (llks. Certainly a modern 

 lady, drefled in a gown of miiflin, which is fufii- 

 ciently tranfparent, would abftvaft little or nothing, 

 cither from the warmth or the chaftity of lier drefs, 

 by divcfting herfelf entirely of her gown. 



•j- I am not certain, that ih'ifulferkum was in ufe 

 fo early as this time. 



J Commentators have frequently confoimded 

 the ly^mum, the bombycina, and \.\\e fer'uum, of the 

 antienls. Some have fuppofed the hjffiiium a cot- 

 ton ftufF; fome make it tlic fame with iheftricum; 

 and others, a very fme linen. It was made from a 

 plant called byjfus, which grew in Egypt, Judaea, 

 India, and Elis, the only diilridl of Greece which 

 produced it. \^E%fLtel, c. 27 in Jerom'i tranjlalion. 

 — P iiifinn.is in Etiaiis L. i.] From the fcvcral de- 

 fcrij)tions of byffus by Paufanias, [;'« Ellac. et in 

 Achaiac.'\ from its growing in Eg'ypt, which has 

 in all ages been famous for the fuperior quality of 

 its flax, and from the certainty that the Greeks 

 had neither cotton nor filk, we may be alnioll af- 

 furcd that it was a very line kind of flux ; and, if 

 ncctfiary, we nsay add the pufnive aflevtion of Ifi- 

 dore, [Orig. L. xix, c. 27] that it was an exceed- 

 ing white and foft kind of flax ; tiiough, like a 

 carelefs comjiilLr, lie elfe where calls bylJus coaife 

 flax. Conftquently the byjjinum mull have been 



a very fine flaxen fabric, probably like the modern 

 cambric. Herodotus [Z. ii, c. 86] fays, the dead 

 bodies of the rich in Egypt, after being embalmed, 

 were wrapt in bandages oi bvffinejiinlon (' e-ji'?«o; 

 6u(ri7i»)5'), which could fcarcely be any other than 

 fine hnen made of byjjus, and the fame with the fine 

 Egyptian JinJun mentioned by Julius Pollux \_L. 

 vii, c. 17] and Clemens of Alexandria. [5//-s;n. i.] 

 Of the byflTus there was alfo made a fine kind of 

 net-work, perhaps like the modern lace, by the 

 manufafture of which, and of the fine byfiine cloth, 

 many women in Achaia, the diftridl next to Elis, 

 fupporttd thcmfelves. [Paufan. in Achiiic.'\ Pliny 

 fays, [i. xix, r. i j that the ladies were veiy fond 

 of lyjfinum, and uled to buy it for its weight in 

 gold, which, I believe, would not even now be a 

 very extravagant price for lace or the fineil cam- 

 bric. The Itrange defcription of I'vffiis produced 

 from trees, and worn by the iupcrioi ranks on the 

 banks of the River Indus, while the reil of the 

 people wore linen, given by Philollratus in his Life 

 of J4pollonius, need not be minded, as his work is 

 not hi(lor)' but romance. — There was another plant 

 called amor^is (from Aniorgu?, an ifland of the 

 uEgrcan fca, where it grew) apparently a fpecies 

 of flax (till finer than the byffiis, for which, and the 

 ihiff" made of it, with the authorities, fee Bochiirl, 

 Cenf^. fdcr. col. :^-\^. 



1'lie bomhvcina was generally underftood to be 

 made from the threads fpun by an infeft called 

 bnmlyx. The fericum was fuppofed to be made 

 from wool, or from a woolly or downy fubllancc 

 found upon the leaves of trees, and it was alfo con- 

 founded with tlie homhydv.a, which came nearer to 

 the truth, the name 01 I'v^yiinn being evidently 

 derived from the animal i^: x.liofe fpoils the ftufi" 

 was made, ani firiciim, unqui llionably filkcn llufi^, 

 fiom the Seres, the people from whom it was got 



