« 
1808.] 
The text of course is good, being copied 
from Bentley, but the notes are contemptible. 
Manilii, Burton. Lond. 8vo. 1783. As 
this gentleman had before: him only the first 
édit. of Man. and one’ of Junius, it was not 
to be expected that he himself could have 
produced a good edition. But it is singular that 
he should have taken such pains to depreciate’ 
the classic whom he undertook to illustrate. 
If the poem were so conjemptible, why did 
he give himself the WeIGee Seam trouble of 
editing it? z 
Muniliy Pingreé, Paris, 2 vol. 8vo. 1786. 
As Mr. Pingré was at once an excellent as: 
tronomer, anda judicious criticg ait has the 
text of Bentley, ‘in somé instances amended, 
with his own excellent notes, accompanied 
by the poem.of ‘Aratus, as translated by .Ci- 
_ €tr0, on the same subject, we may perhaps” 
consider this the most useful of all ‘the edi- 
tions of Manilius, - 
Ee —— 
To the Editor ie the Monthly Ma gaz ine. 
SIR, 
- BEG leave to send you some remarks 
upon the ahtiquity and use of gold 
chains, m 
The earliest mention of wearing this 
ornament is in the Bool of Genesis*, 
where* Pharoah put a gold¢chain about 
the neck of Joseph. “To wear a chain 
of gold was to be. the privilege of the 
fortunate Cedipus, who decyphered the 
fatal hand-writing, upon the wall of Bel- 
shazzar’s palacet, and the king himself, 
as does the modern sovereign his knights, 
accordingly so invested Daniel.’ ‘The 
decoration of the person has ever, from 
its importance, in relation to their at- 
traction and influence, been an object of 
€special concern to women; and. in the 
Song of Solomon, we find their necks 
ornamented with chains of gold.[ Itwas 
also common in Egyptl; and : among the 
Jews, the breast-plate of the high-priest 
as fastened by chains of golds,: which 
I mention only, because some dignity 
was probably attached’ to this kind of 
ligature. ‘Tertullian notes that thé au- 
rum cErvyicis or GME NE UTE, or gold orne- 
ment of the neck, was an ensign’ of dig. 
nity among the Egyptians and Babylo- 
nians§{ ; and’ being such, Herodotus does 
not describe them ‘as parts of the cont 
mon dress ee latter nation? 
Themistocles, seeing, ‘teu a battle, 
* Ch. xli. f-Daniel,ch.v. ~ Ch.i 
|] Strutt’s Dresses Introd. p. xlil, XXV. 
Liive 
§ Moses and Aaron, ix. to xvi. xxviii. 
Lar: 
@ De Idololatria, c. xviii. 
*% Clio, lib. i cxcv. 
a 
} 
Antiquity and Use of Gold Chains. 
516 
ene of the dead adorned with a gold . 
chain, bid a friend take it, observing, 
that Ae was not yet Themistocles*:; and 
every schoolboy knows, that one of the 
Torguati family obtained that name from 
a gold chain, which he had taken from 
a Gaul. ‘These instances are mentioned, 
because they infer the same military 
distinction as the collars of knighthood. 
‘Vegetius mentions that. chains of gold. 
wergiven to soldiers, in reward for their, 
brayeryt, who were afterwards called 
Torquati milites; and Augustus gave. 
fine Lai boy, who had been hurt by a 
faH in the Trojan game, a gold chain}; 
‘and with the hopes “Oki i fashions used to 
stimulate their children|| when about to. 
engage in the military profession. But) 
they were not- rewards of the- first class§, 
these being the several kinds of. crowns. 
These. kinds of chaius were doubtless 
different from the small ones worn by 
men and women, which Montfaucon has. 
engraved from the Brandenbureh cabi- 
net], and whichwere common ornaments., 
Notice, has been before taken of the 
use of the gald»chain among the early 
Gauls**, Boadicea, says Sammestt, 
upon the authority of Dion Cassius, and 
eee sapon that of Pontius, Verun= 
nius, wore a gold chain. Edgar, in his, 
funeral eulogy, i is:described, as the donor: 
of sold chains to his noblesiil| and Edel- 
fledas the lady of Duke Brithnod, be- 
stowed that ornament ‘and a curtain 
worked with the acts of her husband,, 
upon ‘the,church of Ely$§. It was one of* 
the chief insignia ef the AnglosSaxon 
general., 
Fron being, at first, a limited and 
privileged ornament, the gold chains 
descended to the nobility and superior 
orders, aS common designations, of 
rank $f. Various instances appear in old 
- wills in ak de Peerage, but it may. be 
* Plutarch, Precept. Politic. No, ix. 
+ Veget. Lil. + Sue ton. in August. c. xliii. 
i Tuven. 1; v. Sat. xvi. 1. 50—60. * Com- 
ment. Lubin. 588. 
§ Sueton. in August.c. xxv. et Not. Babe- 
lon. 
| Montfauc.. merahees foie. Vi ill, Pe i. 
b. 2. €. @wsec. 5. 
** Catumandus, a petty king, put one 
round the neck of Minerva at Marseilles. 
Justin. I. 435 66. 35 
t+ Britannia Iustrata, 229. 
tt Annales, p. 52. 
‘ if Chron. Saxon. p, 125. 
¢§ Histor. Bliens. PTC. ei : 
@j@j- From mockery they were worn by the 
king’s minstrels and even the court fools... 
ad 
cd " . 
suificien, ry 
