- sions: "Fibrini (vestis est) tramam de fibri lanâ habens: caprina."
Thus the text now stands, evidently defective. The writer no doubt alluded to a kind of cloth called caprina, because goats'-hair was used in the manufacture of it. Beckmann (History of Inventions, Eng. Trans., vol. iv. p. 224.) proposes to read, "tramam de fibri lanâ habens, stamen de caprinâ," i. e. "having the woof of beaver-wool, the warp of goats'-wool." But the ancients were unacquainted with the fine wool of certain goats, and it is highly improbable, that they used goats'-hair in the case referred to, since the "Vestes Fibrinæ" were of great value, as will soon be shown, and not made in any part of coarse materials. The cloth of goats'-hair would be suitable for sailors, both on account of their hardy mode of life, and because it was better adapted than any other kind to bear exposure to water. Its use as clothing to express mourning and mortification will be noticed presently. The employment of goats'-hair for military and naval purposes was far more extensive, and is proved by the following passage from the Geoponica (xviii. 9.) in addition to the former testimonies. [Greek: Prosodous didôsin ouk oligas, tas apo galaktos kai tyrou kai (sarkos); pros de toutois tas apo tês trichos. hê de thrix anankaia pros te schoinous kai sakkous, kai ta toutois paraplêsia, kai eis nautikas hypêresias, oute koptomena rhadiôs, oute sêpomena physikôs, ean mê lian katoligôrêthê.] The goat yields no small profit from its milk, cheese, and (flesh). It also yields a profit from its hair, which is necessary for making ropes, sacks, and similar articles, and for nautical purposes, since it is not easily cut, and does not rot from natural causes, unless it be much neglected.—Yates's Translation.
Cicero (in Verrem, Act i.) mentions Cilicia together with
hides and sacks, and Asconius Pedianus in his Commentary
on the passage (p. 95. ed. Crenii.) gives the following explanation:
"Cilicia texta de pilis in castrorum usum atque nautarum."
Servius on Virgil, Georg. iii. 313. says, that these Cilicia,
or cloths of goats'-hair, were used to cover the towers in
sieges, because they could not be set on fire.
The reader is referred to the Poliorcetica of Lipsius, L. iii. Dial. 3. p. 158. for evidence respecting the use of hair ropes for
