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

FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 425
wood-cut ill Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman An-
tiquities (p. IGO), which is taken from the Column of Trajan.
The same thing appears in various coins belonging to the
reign of this Emperor, two of which, preserved in the British
Museum, are engraved in Plate VIII. fig. 16. represents Uacia
sitting as a captive with her hands tied behind her back, wear-
ing trowsers {braccai) and a conical or oval cap with the edge
turned up. Figure 17. represents Uacia mourning. In each
we see a Dacian target together with Roman armor. Each
has the same legend, Dac. Cap. Cos. V. P. P. S. P. Q. R.
Optimo. Princ. On the reverse is the head of the Emperor
with the inscription Imp. Trajano. Aug. Ger. Dac. P. M.
Tr. P.
According to the representation of Lucian [de Gymnas.),
the Scythians were in the constant habit of wearing caps or
hats : for in the conversation between Anacharsis and Solon
described by that author, Anacharsis requests to go into the
shade, saying that he could scarce endure the sun, and that he
had brought his cap {irXXov) from home, but did not like be-
ing seen alone in a strange habit. In later times we read of
the " pileati Gothi" and " pileati sacerdotes Gothorum*.*'
In considering the use of the skull-cap, or of the conical cap
of felt, it remains to notice the use of it among the Romans as
the emblem of liberty!. When a slave obtained his freedom
he had his head shaven, and wore instead of his hair the pi-
leus, or cap of undyed felt, (Uiod. Sic. Exc. Leg. 22. p. 625, ed.
Wess.). Plutarch, in allusion to the same custom, calls the cap
ffiXjoy, which is the diminutive of frXof. It is evident, that the
Latin pileus or pileiim is derived from the Greek rrrxof and its
diminutive, and this circumstance in conjunction with other ev-
idence tends to show, that the Latins adopted this use of felt
from the Greeks. Sosia says in Plautus {Aniphit. i. 1. 306), as a
description of the mode of receiving his liberty, " Ut ego hodie,
raso capite calvus, capiam pileum." Scrvius {in Virg. ^n.
viii. 564) says, the act of manumitting slaves in this form was
* Jornandes, &c., ap. Div. Gentium Hist. Ant., Ilamb. 1611, pp. 86, 93.
t Haec mea libertas ; hoc nobis pilea donant.—Persius, v. 82.
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