- cessary also to fish for one's dress. For fleeces are obtained from the sea, where
shells of extraordinary size are furnished with tufts of mossy hair[1]. (See Fig. 7, Plate II.)
Procopius informs us (De Edif. lib. iii. c. 1.), that Armenia
was governed by five hereditary satraps, who received their
insignia from the Roman Emperor. Among these was a
Chlamys made of the fibres of the Pinna. ([Greek: Chlamys hê ex eriôn
pepoiêmenê, ouch hoia tôn probatiôn ekpephyken, all' ek thalassês syneilegmenôn; pinnous ta
zôa kalein nenomikasi, en hois hê tôn eriôn ekphysis ginetai.]) This chlamys was
fastened with a fibula of gold, in which a precious stone was
set, and three hyacinths were suspended from it by golden
chains ([Greek: chrysais te kai chalarais alysesin.]) The chlamys was accompanied
by a silken tunic, adorned with sprigs or "feathers" of
gold. It is thus described:
[Greek: Chitôn ek metaxês, enkallôpismasi chrysois pantachothen hôraismenos, ha dê nenomikasi
ploummia kalein.]
With the chlamys and tunic were worn boots of red leather,
such as only the emperors of Rome and Persia were allowed to
wear.
St. Basil mentions with admiration "the golden fleece" of the Pinna, which no artificial dye could imitate. [Greek: Pothen to chrysoun erion hai pinnai trephousin, hoper oudeis tôn anthobaphôn emimêsato.]—Hexaem. vii.
Whether the tuft of the Pinna was used for weaving before the time of the authors, who have now been cited, seems doubtful. As the Pinna is frequently mentioned by earlier writers, both Greek and Latin[2], but without any reference to the use of its tuft, it may be regarded as probable, that this kind of cloth was not invented before the time of Tertullian.
It is a no less curious question, Whence did the ancients obtain the fibres of the Pinna, and where was the manufacture of them carried on?,) well describes the large size and expanded form of the Pinna.]
- ↑ In this passage piscari is rather fancifully opposed to pangere and serere. The former of these two terms (pangere) refers to tunics of wool, which was pacta or pexa; the latter to tunics of cotton and flax, which were sata. The epithet plautiores, (etymologically allied to latiores, and to [Greek: platys
- ↑ The passages are collected in Stephani Thesaurus L. Græcæ, ed. Valpy, p 7579.
