general application. But the use of the term in this manner by a single writer, or even, if they could be produced, by several writers of so late an age as Philostratus, would be of little weight in opposition to the evidence, which has been brought forward to prove, that [Greek: Byssos] properly meant flax only.
II. Forster produces a passage from the Eliaca of Pausanias[1] from which he argues, that [Greek: byssos] was not flax, because Pausanias here distinguishes it from flax as well as from hemp.
But we know, that all plants undergo great changes by cultivation and in consequence of the varieties of soil and climate. What can be more striking than the innumerable tulips derived from the original yellow tulip of Turkey, or all the varieties of pinks and carnations from a single species? To make all the descriptions of cloth from the coarsest canvass or sail-cloth to the most beautiful lawn or cambric, there must have been, as there now are, great differences in the living plant. The best explanation therefore of the language of Pausanias seems to be, that he used [Greek: linon] to denote the common kind of flax, and [Greek: byssos] to signify a finer variety[2]. In another passage, where he speaks of the Elean Byssus, his language shows, that its peculiar excellence consisted both in its fineness and in its beautiful yellow color; for after expressing the admiration, to which this substance was entitled, as growing nowhere else in Greece, he says, that "in fineness it was not inferior to that of the Hebrews, but was not equally yellow[3]."
It may further be remarked in opposition to the idea, that [Greek: byssos] meant cotton in these passages, that there is not the slightest ground for supposing, that cotton was cultivated eitherand [Greek: byssos] in his account of the clothing of a reputed statue of Neptune, l. vi. c. 25. § 5. When flax is raised to be manufactured into cambric and fine lawn, twice as much seed is sown in the same space of ground. The plants then grow closer together; the stalks are more delicate and slender; and the fibres of each plant are finer in proportion.]
- ↑ Paus. l. vi. cap. § 4.
- ↑ Pausanias also distinguishes between [Greek: linon
- ↑ L. v. 5. § 2. Others commend Byssus on account of its whiteness. See Philo. Apoc. xix. 14. Themistius (Orat. p. 57. ed. Paris, 1684. p. 68. ed. Dindorfii, Lips. 1832.) saw at Antioch "ancient letters wrapt in white Byssus." These, he says, were brought from Susa and Ecbatana.
