448 
PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. 
[Book IX. 
succeeded by the Tyrian dibapha,- which could not be bought 
for even one thousand denarii per pound. P. Lentulus Spin- 
ther, the curule aedile, was the first who used the dibapha for 
the prc^texta, and he was greatly censured for it ; whereas 
now-a-days/^ says he, who is there that does not have purple 
hangings^ to his banqueting-couches, even?'' 
This Spinther was sedile in the consulship of Cicero, and in 
the year from the Building of the City, 691. Dibapha'' was 
the name given to textures that had been doubly dyed, and 
these were looked upon as a mighty piece of costly extrava- 
gance ; while now, at the present day, nearly all the purple 
cloths that are reckoned of any account are dyed in a similar 
manner. 
CHAP. 64. FABRICS CALLED CONCHYLIATED. 
Fabrics that are called conchyliated are subjected to the 
same process in all other respects, but without any admixture 
of the juice of the buccinum ; in addition to which, the liquid 
is mixed with water and human urine in equal parts,* one- 
half^ only of the proportion of dye being used for the same quan- 
tity of wool. From this mixture a full colour is not obtained, 
but that pale tint, which is so highly esteemed ; and the clearer^ 
it is, the less of it the wool has imbibed. 
(40.) The prices of these dyes vary in proportion to the 
quantity produced by the various shores ; still, however, those 
who are in the habit of paying enormous prices for them, may 
as well be informed that on no occasion ought the juice of 
- Cloths doubly dyed, or twice dipped : from the Greek dig, twice, and 
pd-TTTM, to dip, 
3 Triclinaria." This word probably signified not only the hangings of 
the table couches, but the coverings, and the coverlets which were spread 
over the guests while at the meal. 
^ " Pro indiviso." 
5 " Dimidia et medicamina adduntur.'' This, no doubt, is the sense of 
the passage, as it is evident that only a thinner t^dye was required for tint, 
though at first sight it would appear as though one-half more were re- 
quired for the same quantity of wool. The quantity therefore would be 
155 J pounds of dye to fifty pounds of wool. 
^ " Tantoque dilutior, quanto magis vellera esuriunt." This seems to 
he the meaning .of the passage : some commentators would read^diluci- 
dior for " dilutior," and it would appear to be preferable. 
