The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 303
Cilice, the modern French term for a hair-shirt, is immedi-
ately derived from Cilicium, the origin of which has been ex-
plained*.
This Idnd of cloth, which was black or dark brown, the goats
of Syria and Palestine being chiefly of that color even to the
present day, is alluded to in the sixth chapter of Revelations!,
and in Is. 1. 3. " I clothe the heavens with blackness and make
sack-cloth their covermg." It was w'orn to express mourning
and mortification. In Jonah we have a very remarkable case,
for on this occasion blankets of goats'-hair were put on the
bodies lx)th of men and beasts^ and one was worn even by the
king of Nineveh himselft. When Herod Agrippa was seized
at Csesarea with the mortal distemper mentioned in Acts xii.
(See chap. vi. p. 93.), the common people sat down on haircloth
according to the custom of their country, beseeching God
on his behalf
—
Josephiis, Ant. Jud. I. xix. cap. 8. p. 872.
Hudson. So according to Josephus [Ant. Jud. I. vii. cap. 7.
p. 299.), David fell down upon sack-cloth of the same descrip-
tion and lay on the ground praying for the restoration of his
son.
Hence the use of the hair-shirt by devotees in more recent
times. St. Basil, Bishop of Ceesarea in the fourth century, in
answer to the question, Whether a monk ought to have besides
his night-shirt {p)ost nocturnam tiinicmn) a Cilicium or any
other, says, " Cilicii quidem usus habet proprium tempus. Non
enim propter usus corporis, sed propter afflictionem carnis inventum
est hujuscemodi indumentum, et propter humilitatem ani-
m8e§." He then adds, that as the word of God forbids us to
* Menage, Diet. Etym. v. Cilice.
t " And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great
earthquake ; and the sun became as black as sack-cloth of hair, and the moon
became as blood."—Rev. vi. 12.
X " So the people of Nineveh believed God, cind proclaimed a fast, and put on
sack-cloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. The word camo
unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from
him, and covered him with sack-cloth, and sat in ashes."—Jonah iii. 5, 6. In
V. 5. we should translate " put on hair-cloths ;" for the word is plural in the He-
brew.
II From the ancient version of Rufinus, p. 175. ed. 1513.