received the ambassadors in tents covered with variously-colored silks.
PAUL, THE SILENTIARY, A. D. 562,
mentions silk thread, used in adorning the vestments in the church of St. Sophia at Constantinople. (P. ii. l. 368.) The note of the Editor, Du Cange, on the description of the pall, (577.), contains various quotations from ecclesiastical writers, which mention "vela rubea Serica;" "vela alba holoserica rasata;" "vela serica de blattin." These quotations show, that silk had been introduced into general used for the churches.
ISIDORUS HISPALENSIS, CL., A. D. 575.
The etymological work of Isodore of Seville may be regarded as a kind of encyclopedia, exhibiting the general state of knowledge and art at the time when he wrote. Hence the following descriptive extracts are well deserving of attention.
Bombyx frondium vermis, ex cujus texturâ Bombycinum conficitur. Appellatur
autem hoc nomine ab eo quod evacuetur dum fila generat, et aer solus in eo
remanet. Origin. l. xii. c. 5.
Bombyx, a worm which lives upon the leaves of trees, and from whose web silk is made. It is called Bombyx, because it empties itself in producing threads, and nothing but air remains within it.
The cloth called Bombycina, derives its name from the silk-worm (Bombyx), which emits very long threads; the web woven from them is called Bombycinum, and is made in the island of Cos.
That called Serica derives its name from silk (sericum), or from the circumstance, that is was first obtained from the Seres.
Holoserica is all of silk: for Holon means all.
Tramoserica has a warp of linen; and a woof (trama) of silk.—L. xix. c. 22
Touching these extracts we would remark, that the testimony
of Isidore must not be considered as proving, that the
silk manufacture still existed in Cos. His statement was no
doubt merely copied from Varro or Pliny, or founded upon the
authority of other writers long anterior to his own age. It is
indeed probable that silk-worms had by this time been brought
into Greece, but that he was ignorant of the fact.
