BOOK XIX. VI. 24-vii. 27 



awnings aotually of sky blue and spangled with 

 stars have been stretched with ropes even in the 

 emperor Nero's amphitheatres. Red awnings are 

 used in the inner courts of houses and keep the 

 sun ofF the moss growing there ; but for other 

 purposes white has remained persistentlv in favour. 

 Moreover as early as the Trojan war linen already 

 held a place of honour— for why should it not be 

 present even in battles as it is in shipwrecks ? Homer ^^- ^- 82i>, 



830 



testifies that warriors, though only a few, fought in " 

 linen corslets. This material was also used for 

 rigging ships, according to the same author as intcr- 

 preted by the more learned scholars, who say that the 

 word sparta used by Homer means ' sown '. ^^- ^^- "^^^- 



Vn. As a mattcr of fact the employmcnt of esparto" FabrUs of 

 began many generations later, and not before the ^^f"^'"'"- 

 first invasion of Spain by the Carthaginians. Esparto 237 b.c. 

 also is a plant, which is self-sown and cannot be grown 

 from seed ; strictly it is a rush, belonging to a dry 

 soil, and all the blame for it attaches to the earth, 

 for it is a curse of the land, and nothing else can be 

 grown or can spring up there. In Africa it makes a 

 small growth and is of no use. In the Cartagcna 

 section of Hither Spain, and not the whole of this but 

 as far as this plant grows, even the mountains are 

 covered witli esparto grass. Country pcople there use 

 it for bedding, for fuel and torches, for footwcar and 

 for shepherd's clothes ; but it is unwholesome fodder 

 for animals, except the tender growth at the tops. 

 For other purposes it is pulled out of the ground, a 

 laborious task for which gaiters are wom on the legs 

 and the hands are wrapped in woven gauntlets, and 

 levers of bone or holmoak are used ; nowadays the 

 work goes on nearly into winter, but it is done most 



437 



