CHAPTER III.
HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH CENTURY.
SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING.—HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE
ATTAINED IN THESE ARTS.
Fourth century—Curious account of silk found in the Edict of Diocletian—Extravagance
of the Consul Furius Placidus—Transparent silk shifts—Ausonius describes
silk as the produce of trees—Quintus Aur Symmachus, and Claudian's testimony
of silk and golden textures—Their extraordinary beauty—Pisander's description—Periplus
Maris Erythræi—Dido of Sidon. Mention of silk in the
laws of Manu—Rufus Festus Avinus—Silk shawls—Marciannus Capella—Inscription
by M. N. Proculus, silk manufacturer—Extraordinary spiders' webs—Bombyces
compared to spiders—Wild silk-worms of Tsouen—Kien and Tiao-Kien—M.
Bertin's account—Further remarks on wild silk-worms. Christian
authors of the fourth century—Arnobius—Gregorius Nazienzenus—Basil—Illustration
of the doctrine of the resurrection—Ambrose—Georgius Pisida—Macarius—Jerome—Chrysostom—Heliodorus—Salmasius—Extraordinary
beauty of the silk and golden textures described by these authors—Their invectives
against Christians wearing silk. Mention of silk by Christian authors in
the fifth century—Prudentius—Palladius—Theodosian Code—Appolinaris Sidonius—Alcimus
Avitus. Sixth century—Boethius. (Manufactures of Tyre
and Sidon—Purple—Its great durability—Incredible value of purple stuffs
found in the treasury of the King of Persia.)
FOURTH CENTURY.
Some curious evidence respecting the use of silk, both unmixed with linen and with the warp of linen, or some inferior material, is found in the Edict of Diocletian, which was published A. D. 303 for the purpose of fixing a maximum of prices for all articles in common use throughout the Roman Empire[1]. The passage pertaining to our present subject, is as follows:
- ↑ It was edited A. D. 1826, by Colonel Leake, as a sequel to his Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, and is also published in Tr. of the Royal Society of Literature, vol. i. p. 181.
