Chap. 61.] 
DIFrEEENT KIKDS OP PUEPLES. 
443 
dressed to propitiate the gods ; on every garmenf^^ it sheds a 
lustre, and in the triumphal vestment'''^ it is to be seen min- 
gled with gold. Let us be prepared then to excuse this 
frantic passion for purple, even though at the same time we 
are compelled to enquire, why it is that such a high value has 
been set upon the produce of this shell-fish, seeing that while 
in the dye the smell of it is offensive, and the colour itself 
is harsh, of a greenish hue, and strongly resembling that of 
the sea when in a tempestuous state ? 
The tongue of the purple is a finger'^ in length, and by 
means of this it finds subsistence, by piercing other shell- 
fish,"^® so hard is the point of it. They die in fresh water, and 
in places where rivers discharge themselves into the sea ; 
otherwise, when taken, they will live as long as fifty days on 
their saliva. All shell-fish grow very fast, and purples more 
especially ; they come to their full size at the end of a year. 
CHAP. 61. THE niFFEKENT KINDS OF PUKPLES. 
Were I at this point to pass on to other subjects, luxury, no 
doubt would think itself defrauded of its due, and so accuse 
me of negligence ; I must therefore make my way into the 
very workshops even, so that, just as among articles of food 
the various kinds and qualities of corn are known, all those 
who place the enjoyment of life in these luxuries, may have 
a still better acquaintance with the objects for which they 
live.'^ 
was worn by the priests when performing sacrifice. Ajasson, however, 
agrees with Dalechamps in thinking that this passage bears reference to 
the consuls, who wore purple when sacrificing to the gods. 
The preetexta, for instance, the laticlave, the chlamys, the paluda- 
mentum, and the trabea. 
''^ On the occasion of a triumph, the victor was arrayed in a *' toga 
picta,'' an embroidered garment, which, from the present passage, would 
appear to have been of purple and gold. Pliny tells us, B. xxxiii. c. 19, 
that Tarquinius, on his triumph over the Sabines, wore a robe of cloth of 
gold. 
'^'^ Aristotle says the same. Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14, and De Partib. 
Anim. B. ii. c. 17. Cuvier says, that the buccinus and murex have a long 
neck, in which there is a tongue armed with little teeth, but very sharp, 
by means of which the animal is enabled to pierce other shell-fish. 
Conchylia ;" other fish of the same kind apparently; as Pliny uses 
the word conch ylium" synonymously with " murex." 
79 a praemia vitas suse.'* 
