Chap. 63.] WEEK PUEPLE WAS TIKST rSED AT ROME. 447 



From this combination is produced the admirable tint known 

 as Amethyst colour.'* To produce the Tyrian hue the wool is 

 soaked in the juice of the pelagiae while the mixture is in an 

 uncooked and raw state ; after which its tint is changed by 

 being dipped in the juice of the buccinnm. It is considered of 

 the best quality when it has exactly the colour of clotted blood, 

 and is of a blackish hue to the sight, but of a shining ap- 

 pearance when held up to the light ; hence it is that we find 

 Homer speaking of " purple blood." " 



CHAP. 63. (39.) WHEN PTTBPLBWAS FIEST TTSED AT BOME : WHEX 



THE LAIICLATE VESTMENT AND THE PR^TEXTA WEEE ElBST 

 WOBJf. 



I find that, from the very first, purple has been in use at 

 Rome, but that Eomulus employed it for the trabea.'^ As to 

 the toga praetexta and the laticlave" vestment, it is a fact well 

 ascertained, that Tullns Hostilius was the first king who made 

 use of them, and that after the conquest of the Etruscans. Cor- 

 nelius Ifepos, who died in the reign of the late Emperor 

 Augustus, has left the following remarks : "In the days of 

 my yonth," says he, " the violet purple was in favour, a pound 

 of which used to sell at one hundred denarii ; and not long 

 after, the Tarentine' red was aU the fashion. This last was 



^ So called from the gem of that name ; eee B. xxxvii. c. 40. 



" Ai/iari vopipvpkif. II. P. 1. 360, for instance. 



™ The " trabea " was similar in cut to the toga, but was ornamented 

 with purple horizontal stripes. Serrius mentions three kinds of trabea ; 

 one wholly of purple, which was sacred to the gods, another of purple and 

 white, and another of purple and saffron, which belonged to the augurs. 

 The purple and white trabea was the royal robe, worn by the early kings, 

 and the introduction of which was assigned to Bomuluj. The trabea was 

 worn by the consuls in public solemnities, such as opening the temple of 

 Janus. The equites also wore it on particular occasions ; and it is some- 

 times ^oken of as the badge of the equestrian order. 



^ The latns clavus, or laticlave, was originally worn on the tunic, and 

 was a distinctive badge of the senatorian order. It consisted of a single 

 broad band of purple colour, extending perpendicularly from the neck down 

 the centre of the tunic. The right of wearing the laticlave was given to 

 children of the equestrian order, at least, as we learn firom Ovid, in the 

 reign of Augustus. 



' Hardouin says, that in his time there were still to be seen the remains 

 of the ancient dyeing houses at Tarentum, the modem Otranto, and that 

 vast heaps of the shells of the nlurex had been discovered there. 



