326 PERFUMES. 



Plocius is characteristic of those times. This Lucius 

 Plocius, whose brother Lucius Planciis had twice been 

 Consul, was proscribed b\' the Triumvirate and fled. 

 He concealed himself in the neighbourhood of Salernum, 

 where, ho\\-ever, the perfume he diffused betra\ ed liis pres- 

 ence, lie was put to death, and Plin-\-, anno\-ed hv the 

 excessive use of perfumes so prevalent at that time, re- 

 lates this not without a certain satisfaction. We can 

 hardh' imagine anyone reeking with oils and unguents 

 now-a-da\s as was often the case in ancient Greece 

 and in the Levant. We have a. decided aversion to 

 greas}- hands and therefore clean them as soon as pos- 

 sible. We still tolerate oil and pomatum for the hair, 

 but these things are being replaced b\' alcoholic extracts, 

 whereas the ancients anointed themselves exclusiveh' 

 with perfumed oils. The lirst lic[uid scent of the kind 

 we now use is said to have been produced b\ Mercutio 

 Frangipani, who made an extract with strong alcohol, 

 from a po\^'der of spices and musk invented b\' his an- 

 cestors. This same Frangipani belonged to a Roman 

 noble famih', which in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries 

 had distinguished itself in the feud between the Guelfs 

 and Glnbellines. That the weakness for periuming ones 

 person was inherited in this famih- is shown hv the fact 

 that in France a descendant of Frangij^ani, Marcjuis 

 de Frangipani, Field Marshal under T^ouis XIII, introduced 

 a kind of jjerfumed glove, known as "(rants a la Fran- 

 gipani". 



The (jreeks learnt from the orientals to anoint 

 their bodies -with scented oil. Pliiu- without further 



