"In oldest times, when kings and hardy chiefs
In bleating sheep-folds met, for purest wool
Phœnicia's hilly tracts were most renown'd,
And fertile Syria's and Judæa's land,
Hermon, and Seir, and Hebron's brooky sides,
Twice with the murex, crimson hue, they ting'd
The shining fleeces—hence their gorgeous wealth;
And hence arose the walls of ancient Tyre[1]."
LUCAN.
Candida Sidonio perlucent pectora filo,
Quod Nilotis acus percussum pectine Serum
Solvit, et extenso laxavit stamina velo.
L. x. 141.
Her snowy breast shines through Sidonian threads,
First by the comb of distant Seres struck,
Divided then by Egypt's skilful toil,
And with embroidery transparent made.
The poet is describing the dress of Cleopatra. He supposes her to have worn over her breast a piece of silk, woven by the Seres, imported through Sidon into Egypt, and then embroidered. By the last process, in which the Egyptians greatly excelled, the threads were in part separated, so as to exhibit the appearance of lace, and to allow the white breast of the queen to be visible through the texture.
Amidst the braidings of her flowing hair,
The spoils of orient rocks and shells appear:
Like midnight stars, ten thousand diamonds deck
The comely rising of her graceful neck;
Of wondrous work, a thin transparent lawn
O'er each soft breast in decency was drawn,
Where still by turns the parting threads withdrew,
And all the panting bosom rose to view.
Her robe, her every part, her air confess
The power of female skill exhausted in her dress.
Pharsalia, x.
In glowing purple rich the coverings lie,
Twice had they drunk the noblest Tyrian dye
Others, as Pharian artists have the skill
To mix the party-color'd web at will,
- ↑ Old Tyre was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar in the second year after the
destruction of Jerusalem, or 584 B. C.
