442 
PLINY' S IfA.T(JBAL HISTOllT. 
[Book IX. 
(36.) Purples live mostly seven^^ years. Like the murex, 
they keep themselves in concealment for thirty days, about the 
time of the rising of the Dog-star; in the spring season they unite 
in large bodies^ and by rubbing against each other, produce a 
viscous spittle, from which a kind of wax is formed. The 
murex does the same ; but the purple^^ has that exquisite 
juice which is so greatly sought after for the purpose of dyeing 
cloth, situate in the middle of the throat. This secretion 
consists of a tiny drop contained in a white vein, from which 
the precious liquid used for dyeing is distilled, being of the 
tint of a rose somewhat inclining to black. The rest of the 
body is entirely destitute of this juice. It is a great point to 
take the fish alive : for when it dies, it spits out this juice. 
Prom the larger ones it is extracted after taking off the shell ; 
but the small fish are crushed alive, together with the shells, 
upon which they eject this secretion. 
In Asia the best purple is that of Tyre, in Africa that 
of Meninx and the parts of Geetulia that border on the 
Ocean, and in Europe that of Laconia. It is for this colour 
that the fasces and the axes' ^ of Eome make way in the 
crowd ; it is this that asserts the majesty of childhood it is 
this that distinguishes the senator'^ from the man of equestrian 
rank ; by persons arrayed in this colour are prayers'^ ad- 
^8 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14, sstys, about six." The murex of 
Pliny is the Krjpv^ of Aristotle. 
69 Aristotle says, that the purple consists of three parts, the upper being 
the TpctyriXog, or neck ; the middle the firjiciov, or poppy ; and the lower 
the 7rv9fjL{]v, or trunk ; and that the juice lies between the first and second 
of these parts, or the throat. This juice, which Pliny calls ''flos," 
flower," ^^ros," ^'dew," and ''succus," ^' juice," is distilled, Cuvier 
says, not from the fauces of the animal, but from the mantle or mem- 
branous tissue which lines the shell. 
•^0 See B. v. c. 7. See also B. vi. c. 86. 
Which preceded the Eoman consuls, who were clothed with the toga 
prtetexta, the colour of wliich was Syrian purple. 
"'^ Hardouin seems to think that maj estate pueritiai" means ^'children 
of high birth but it was the fact that all children of free birth wore the 
praBtexta, edged with purple, till they attained puberty. It is much more 
probable that by these words Pliny means the majesty of youth," in its 
simplicity and guileless nature, that commands our veneration and respect. 
He means that the purple laticlave or broad hem of the senator's toga 
distinguished him from the eques, who wore a toga with an angusticlave, 
or narrow hem. 
From Cicero, Epist. Ad. Attic. B. ii. Ep. 9, we learn that purple 
