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

44 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF
the consular robes of the two brothers Probinus and Olybrius
(A. D. 395.), represents the Gabine Cincture, by which the toga
was girt over the breast, as made of silk.
In the following passage he represents the two brothers,
Honorius and Arcadius, as dividing the empire of the world be-
tween them and receiving tributes of its productions from the
most distant regions
:
Vestri juris erit, quicquid complectitiir axis.
Vobis rubra dabunt pretiosas cequora conchas,
Indus ebur, ramos Panohaia, vellera Seres.
De III. Cons. Honorii, I. 209-211.
To you the world its various wealth shall send
Their precious shells the Erythrean seas ;
India its iv'ry, Araby its boughs,
The distant Seres fleeces from the trees.
In a poem, which immediately succeeds this in the order of
time, Claudian describes a magnificent toga, worn by Honorius
on being appointed a fourth time consul, by saying, that it re-
ceived its color [the Tyriaii j)urple) from the Phoenicians ; its
•woof [of silk forming- stripes or figures) from the Seres ;
:
and
its weight [jiroduced hy Indian gems) from the river Hydas-
pes*. Again, in his poem on the approaching marriage of
Honorius and Maria, he mentions yellow silk curtains (Z. 211.)
as a decoration of the nuptial chamber.
Again he says {in Eutrop. I. i. v. 225, 226. 304. /. ii. v.
337.)
:
Te grandibus India gemmis,
Te foliis Arabes ditent, te vellere Seres.
Let India with her gems thy wealth increase,
The Arabs with their leaves, the Seres with their fleece. ,
He also mentions with delight the use of gold in dress, as
well as of silk. The following passage represents the manner
in which Proba, a Roman matron, near the end of the fourth
century, expressed her affectionate congratulations on the ele-
vation of her two sons to the Consulship, by preparing robes in-
tericoven loith gold for the ceremony of their installation.
* De IV. Cons. Honorii, i. 600, COL