DRESS AND PERSONAL ORNAMENTS
REFERENCES: Marquardt, 475-606; Voigt, 329-335, 404-412; Göll, III,
189-310; Guhl and Koner, 728-747; Ramsay, 504-512; Blümner, I,
189-307; Smith, Harper, Rich, under _toga_, _tunica_, _stola_,
_palla_, and the other Latin words in the text; Lübker, under
_Kleidung_; Baumeister, 574 f., 1822-1846; Pauly-Wissowa, under
_calceī_.
§234. From the earliest to the latest times the clothing of the Romans
was very simple, consisting ordinarily of two or three articles only
besides the covering of the feet. These articles varied in material,
style, and name from age to age, it is true, but were practically
unchanged during the Republic and the early Empire. The mild climate
of Italy (§218) and the hardening effect of the physical exercise of
the young (§107) made unnecessary the closely fitting garments to
which we are accustomed, while contact with the Greeks on the south
and perhaps the Etruscans on the north gave the Romans a taste for the
beautiful that found expression in the graceful arrangement of their
loosely flowing robes. The clothing of men and women differed much
less than in modern times, but it will be convenient to describe their
garments separately. Each article was assigned by Latin writers to one
of two classes and called from the way it was put on _indūtus_ or
_amictus_. To the first class we may give the name of under garments,
to the second outer garments, though these terms very inadequately
represent the Latin words.
§235. The Subligaculum.--Next the person was worn the _subligāculum_,
the loin-cloth familiar to us in pictures of ancient athletes and
gladiators (see Fig. 151, §344, and the culprit in Fig. 26, §119), or
perhaps the short drawers (trunks), worn nowadays by bathers or
college athletes. We are told that in the earliest times this was the
only under garment worn by the Romans, and that the family of the
Cethegi adhered to this ancient practice throughout the Republic,
wearing the toga immediately over it. This, too, was done by
individuals who wished to pose as the champions of old-fashioned
simplicity, as for example the younger Cato, and by candidates for
public office. In the best times, however, the _subligāculum_ was worn
under the tunic or replaced by it.
[Illustration: FIGURE 83. THE TUNIC]
§236. The Tunic.--The tunic was also adopted in very early times and
came to be the chief article of the kind covered by the word
_indūtus_. It was a plain woolen shirt, made in two pieces, back and
front, sewed together at the sides, and resembled somewhat the modern
sweater. It had very short sleeves, covering hardly half of the upper
arm, as shown in Fig. 83. It was long enough to reach from the neck to
the calf, but if the wearer wished for greater freedom for his limbs
he could shorten it by merely pulling it through a girdle or belt worn
around the waist. Tunics with sleeves reaching to the wrists (_tunicae
manicātae_), and tunics falling to the ankles (_tunicae tālārēs_) were
not unknown in the late Republic, but were considered unmanly and
effeminate.
§237. The tunic was worn in the house without any outer garment and
probably without a girdle; in fact it came to be the distinctive
house-dress as opposed to the toga, the dress for formal occasions
only. It was also worn with nothing over it by the citizen while at
work, but he never appeared in public without the toga over it, and
even then, hidden by the toga though it was, good form required the
wearing of the girdle with it. Two tunics were often worn (_tunica
interior_, or _subūcula_, and _tunica exterior_), and persons who
suffered from the cold, as did Augustus for example, might wear a
larger number still when the cold was very severe. The tunics intended
for use in the winter were probably thicker and warmer than those worn
in the summer, though both kinds were of wool.
§238. The tunic of the ordinary citizen was the natural color of the
white wool of which it was made, without trimmings or ornaments of any
kind. Knights and senators, on the other hand, had stripes of purple,
narrow and wide respectively, running from the shoulder to the bottom
of the tunic both behind and in front. These stripes were either woven
in the garment or sewed upon it. From them the tunic of the knight was
called _tunica angustī clāvī_ (or _angusticlāvia_), and that of the
senator _lātī clāvī_ (or _lāticlāvia_). Some authorities think that
the badge of the senatorial tunic was a single broad stripe running
down the middle of the garment in front and behind, but unfortunately
no picture has come down to us that absolutely decides the question.
Under this official tunic the knight or senator wore usually a plain
_tunica interior_. When in the house he left the outer tunic unbelted
in order to display the stripes as conspicuously as possible.
§239. Besides the _subligāculum_ and the _tunica_ the Romans had no
regular underwear. Those who were feeble through age or ill health
sometimes wound strips of woolen cloth (_fasciae_) around the legs for
the sake of additional warmth. These were called _feminālia_ or
_tībiālia_ according as they covered the upper or lower part of the
leg. Such persons might also use similar wrappings for the body
(_ventrālia_) and even for the throat (_fōcālia_), but all these were
looked upon as the badges of senility or decrepitude and formed no
part of the regular costume of sound men. It must be especially
noticed that the Romans had nothing corresponding to our trousers or
even long drawers, the _braccae_ or _brācae_ being a Gallic article
that was not used at Rome until the time of the latest emperors. The
phrase _nātiōnēs brācātae_ in classical times was a contemptuous
expression for the Gauls in particular and barbarians in general.
§240. The Toga.--Of the outer garments or wraps the most ancient and
the most important was the _toga_ (cf. _tegere_). Whence the Romans
got it we do not know, but it goes back to the very earliest time of
which tradition tells, and was the characteristic garment of the
Romans for more than a thousand years. It was a heavy, white, woolen
robe, enveloping the whole figure, falling to the feet, cumbrous but
graceful and dignified in appearance. All its associations suggested
formality. The Roman of old tilled his fields clad only in the
_subligāculum_; in the privacy of his home or at his work the Roman of
every age wore the comfortable, blouse-like _tunica_; but in the
forum, in the _comitia_, in the courts, at the public games,
everywhere that social forms were observed he appeared and had to
appear in the toga. In the toga he assumed the responsibilities of
citizenship (§127), in the toga he took his wife from her father's
house to his (§78), in the toga he received his clients also toga-clad
(§182), in the toga he discharged his duties as a magistrate, governed
his province, celebrated his triumph, and in the toga he was wrapped
when he lay for the last time in his hall (§198). No foreign nation
had a robe of the same material, color, and arrangement; no foreigner
was allowed to wear it, though he lived in Italy or even in Rome
itself; even the banished citizen left the toga with his civil rights
behind him. Vergil merely gave expression to the national feeling when
he wrote the proud verse (Aen. I, 282):
Rōmānōs, rērum dominōs, gentemque togātam.[1]
[Footnote 1: The Romans, lords of deeds, the race that wears the
toga.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 84. TIBERIUS IN THE TOGA]
§241. Form and Arrangement.--The general appearance of the toga is
known to every schoolboy; of few ancient garments are pictures so
common and in general so good (Becker, p. 203; Guhl and Koner, p. 729;
Baumeister, p. 1823; Schreiber, LXXXV, 8-10; Harper, Rich, and Smith,
s.v.). They are derived from numerous statues of men clad in it, which
have come down to us from ancient times, and we have besides full and
careful descriptions of its shape and of the manner of wearing it in
the works of writers who had worn it themselves. As a matter of fact,
however, it has been found impossible to reconcile the descriptions in
literature with the representations in art (Fig. 84) and scholars are
by no means agreed as to the precise cut of the toga or the way it was
put on. It is certain, however, that in its earlier form it was
simpler, less cumbrous, and more closely fitted to the figure than in
later times, and that even as early as the classical period its
arrangement was so complicated that the man of fashion could not array
himself in it without assistance.
[Illustration: FIGURE 85. BACK OF TOGA]
§242. Scholars who lay the greater stress on the literary authorities
describe the cut and arrangement of the toga about as follows: It
consisted of one piece of cloth of semicircular cut, about five yards
long by four wide, a certain portion of which was pressed into long
narrow plaits. This cloth was doubled lengthwise, not down the center
but so that one fold was deeper than the other. It was then thrown
over the left shoulder in such a manner that the end in front reached
to the ground, and the part behind (Fig. 85) was in length about twice
a man's height. This end was then brought around under the right arm
and again thrown over the left shoulder so as to cover the whole of
the right side from the armpit to the calf. The broad folds in which
it hung over were thus gathered together on the left shoulder. The
part which crossed the breast diagonally was known as the _sinus_, or
bosom. It was deep enough to serve as a pocket for the reception of
small articles. According to this description the toga was in one
piece and had no seams.
[Illustration: FIGURE 86. CUT OF TOGA]
§243. Those who attempt the reconstruction of the toga wholly or
chiefly from works of art find it impossible to reproduce on the
living form the drapery seen on the statues, with a toga of one piece
of goods or of a semicircular pattern. An experimental form is shown
in Fig. 86, and resembles that of a lamp shade cut in two and
stretched out to its full extent. The dotted line _GC_ is the straight
edge of the goods; the heavy lines show the shape of the toga after it
had been cut out, and had had sewed upon it the ellipse-like piece
marked _FRAcba_. The dotted line _GE_ is of a length equivalent to the
height of a man at the shoulder, and the other measurements are to be
calculated proportionately. When the toga is placed on the figure the
point _E_ must be on the left shoulder, with the point _G_ touching
the ground in front. The point _F_ comes at the back of the neck, and
as the larger part of the garment is allowed to fall behind the figure
the points _L_ and _M_ will fall on the calves of the legs behind, the
point _a_ under the right elbow, and the point _b_ on the stomach. The
material is carried behind the back and under the right arm and then
thrown over the left shoulder again. The point _c_ will fall on _E_,
and the portion _OPCa_ will hang down the back to the ground, as shown
in Fig. 85, §242. The part _FRA_ is then pulled over the right
shoulder to cover the right side of the chest and form the _sinus_,
and the part running from the left shoulder to the ground in front is
pulled up out of the way of the feet, worked under the diagonal folds
and allowed to fall out a little to the front. The front should then
present an appearance similar to that shown in the figure in §241. It
will be found in practice, however, that much of the grace of the toga
must have been due to the trained _vestiplicus_, who kept it properly
creased when it was not in use and carefully arranged each fold after
his master had put it on. We are not told of any pins or tapes to hold
it in place, but are told that the part falling from the left shoulder
to the ground behind kept all in position by its own weight, and that
this weight was sometimes increased by lead sewed in the hem.
§244. It is evident that in this fashionable toga the limbs were
completely fettered, and that all rapid, not to say violent, motion
was absolutely impossible. In other words the toga of the
ultrafashionable in the time of Cicero was fit only for the formal,
stately, ceremonial life of the city. It is easy to see, therefore,
how it had come to be the emblem of peace, being too cumbrous for use
in war, and how Cicero could sneer at the young dandies of his time
for wearing "sails not togas." We can also understand the eagerness
with which the Roman welcomed a respite from civic and social duties.
Juvenal sighed for the freedom of the country, where only the dead had
to wear the toga. Martial praises the unconventionality of the
provinces for the same reason. Pliny makes it one of the attractions
of his villa that no guest need wear the toga there. Its cost, too,
made it all the more burdensome for the poor, and the working classes
could scarcely have worn it at all.
[Illustration: FIGURE 87. THE EARLIER TOGA]
[Illustration: FIGURE 88. THE CINCTUS GABINUS]
§245. The earlier toga must have been simpler by far, but no certain
representation of it has come down to us. The Dresden statue, often
used to illustrate its arrangement (Smith, Fig. 7, p. 848_b_;
Schreiber LXXXV, 8; Marquardt, Fig. 2, p. 558; Baumeister, Fig. 1921),
is more than doubtful, the garment being probably a Greek mantle of
some sort. An approximate idea of it may be gained perhaps from a
statue in Florence of an Etruscan orator (Fig. 87), which corresponds
very closely with the descriptions of it in literary sources. At any
rate it was possible for men to fight in it by tying the trailing ends
around the body and drawing the back folds over the head. This was
called the _cinctus Gabīnus_, and long after the toga had ceased to be
worn in war this _cinctus_ was used in certain ceremonial observances.
It is shown in Fig. 88, though the toga is one of later times.
§246. Kinds of Togas.--The toga of the ordinary citizen was, like the
tunic (§238), of the natural color of the white wool of which it was
made, and varied in texture, of course, with the quality of the wool.
It was called _toga pūra_ (or _virīlis_, _lībera_ §127). A dazzling
brilliancy could be given to the toga by a preparation of fuller's
chalk, and one so treated was called _toga splendēns_ or _candida_. In
such a toga all persons running for office arrayed themselves, and
from it they were called _candidātī_. The curule magistrates, censors,
and dictators wore the _toga praetexta_, differing from the ordinary
toga only in having a purple border. It was also worn by boys (§127)
and by the chief officers of the free towns and colonies. The _toga
picta_ was wholly of purple covered with embroidery of gold, and was
worn by the victorious general in his triumphal procession and later
by the Emperors. The _toga pulla_ was simply a dingy toga worn by
persons in mourning or threatened with some calamity, usually a
reverse of political fortune. Persons assuming it were called
_sordidātī_ and were said _mūtāre vestem_. This _vestis mūtātiō_ was a
common form of public demonstration of sympathy with a fallen leader.
In this case curule magistrates contented themselves with merely
laying aside the _toga praetexta_ for the _toga pūra_, and only the
lower orders wore the _toga pulla_.
§247. The Lacerna.--In Cicero's time there was just coming into
fashionable use a mantle called _lacerna_, which seems to have been
first used by soldiers and the lower classes and then adopted by their
betters on account of its convenience. These wore it at first over the
toga as a protection against dust and sudden showers. It was a woolen
mantle, short, light, open at the sides, without sleeves, but fastened
with a brooch or buckle on the right shoulder. It was so easy and
comfortable that it began to be worn not over the toga but instead of
it, and so generally that Augustus issued an edict forbidding it to be
used in public assemblages of citizens. Under the later Emperors,
however, it came into fashion again, and was the common outer garment
at the theaters. It was made of various colors, dark naturally for the
lower classes, white for formal occasions, but also of brighter hues.
It was sometimes supplied with a hood (_cucullus_), which the wearer
could pull over the head as a protection or a disguise. No
representation of the _lacerna_ in art has come down to us that can be
positively identified; that in Rich s.v. is very doubtful. The
military cloak, first called the _trabea_, then _palūdāmentum_ and
_sagum_, was much like the _lacerna_, but made of heavier material.
[Illustration: FIGURE 89. THE PAENULA]
§248. The Paenula.--Older than the _lacerna_ and used by all sorts and
conditions of men was the _paenula_ (Fig. 89), a heavy coarse wrap of
wool, leather, or fur, used merely for protection against rain or
cold, and therefore never a substitute for the toga or made of fine
materials or bright colors. It seems to have varied in length and
fullness, but to have been a sleeveless wrap, made in one piece with a
hole in the middle, through which the wearer thrust his head. It was,
therefore, classed with the _vestīmenta clausa_, or closed garments,
and must have been much like the modern poncho. It was drawn on over
the head, like a tunic or sweater, and covered the arms, leaving them
much less freedom than the _lacerna_ did. In those of some length
there was a slit in front running from the waist down, and this
enabled the wearer to hitch the cloak up over one shoulder, leaving
one arm comparatively free, but at the same time exposing it to the
weather. It was worn over either tunic or toga according to
circumstances, and was the ordinary traveling habit of citizens of the
better class. It was also commonly worn by slaves, and seems to have
been furnished regularly to soldiers stationed in places where the
climate was severe. Like the _lacerna_ it was sometimes supplied with
a hood.
[Illustration: FIGURE 90. SOLDIER WEARING THE ABOLLA]
§249. Other Wraps.--Of other articles included under the general term
_amictus_ we know little more than the names. The _synthesis_ was a
dinner dress worn at table over the tunic by the ultrafashionable, and
sometimes dignified by the special name of _vestis cēnātōria_, or
_cēnātōrium_ alone. It was not worn out of the house except on the
Saturnalia, and was usually of some bright color. Its shape is
unknown. The _laena_ and _abolla_ were very heavy woolen cloaks, the
latter (Fig. 90) being a favorite with poor people who had to make one
garment do duty for two or three. It was used especially by
professional philosophers, who were proverbially careless about their
dress. One is thought to be worn by the man on the extreme left, in
the picture of a school shown in §119. The _endormis_ was something
like the modern bath robe, used by men after violent gymnastic
exercise to keep from taking cold, and hardly belongs under the head
of dress.
[Illustration: FIGURE 91. SOLEAE]
§250. Footgear: the Soleae.--It may be set down as a rule that freemen
did not appear in public at Rome with bare feet, except as nowadays
under the compulsion of the direst poverty. Two styles of footwear
were in use, slippers or sandals (_soleae_) and shoes (_calceī_). The
slipper consisted essentially of a sole of leather or matting attached
to the foot in various ways (see the several styles in Fig. 91).
Custom limited its use to the house and it went characteristically
with the tunic (§237), when that was not covered by an outer garment.
Oddly enough, it seems to us, the slippers were not worn at meals.
Host and guests wore them into the dining-room, but as soon as they
had taken their places on the couches (§224) slaves removed the
slippers from their feet and cared for them until the meal was over
(§152). Hence the phrase _soleās poscere_ came to mean "to prepare to
take leave." When a guest went out to dinner in a _lectīca_ (§151) he
wore the _soleae_, but if he walked he wore the regular out-door shoes
(_calceī_) and had his slippers carried by a slave.
[Illustration: FIGURE 92. ROMAN SHOES]
§251. The Calcei.--Out of doors the _calceus_ was always worn,
although it was much heavier and less comfortable than the _solea_.
Good form forbade the toga to be worn without the _calceī_, and they
were worn also with all the other garments included under the word
_amictus_. The _calceus_ was essentially our shoe, made on a last of
leather, covering the upper part of the foot as well as protecting the
sole, fastened with laces or straps. The higher classes had shoes
peculiar to their rank. The shoe for senators is best known to us
(_calceus senātōrius_), and is shown in Fig. 92; but we know only its
shape, not its color. It had a thick sole, was open on the inside at
the ankle, and was fastened by wide straps which ran from the juncture
of the sole and the upper, were wrapped around the leg and tied above
the instep. The _mulleus_ or _calceus patricius_ was worn originally
by patricians only, but later by all curule magistrates. It was shaped
like the senator's shoe, was red in color like the fish from which it
was named, and had an ivory or silver ornament of crescent shape
(_lūnula_) fastened on the outside of the ankle. We know nothing of
the shoe worn by the knights. Ordinary citizens wore shoes that opened
in front and were fastened by a strap of leather running from one side
of the shoe near the top. They did not come up so high on the leg as
those of the senators and were probably of uncolored leather. The
poorer classes naturally wore shoes of coarser material, often of
untanned leather (_pērōnēs_), and laborers and soldiers had half-boots
(_caligae_) of the stoutest possible make, or wore wooden shoes. No
stockings were worn by the Romans, but persons with tender feet might
wrap them with _fasciae_ (§239) to keep the shoes and boots from
chafing them.
[Illustration: FIGURE 93. THE CAUSIA]
[Illustration: FIGURE 94. THE PETASUS]
§252. Coverings for the Head.--Men of the upper classes in Rome had
ordinarily no covering for the head. When they went out in bad weather
they protected themselves, of course, with the _lacerna_ and
_paenula_, and these, as we have seen (§§247, 248), were provided with
hoods (_cucullī_). If they were caught without wraps in a sudden
shower they made shift as best they could by pulling the toga up over
the head, cf. Fig. 88 in §245. Persons of lower standing, especially
workmen who were out of doors all day, wore a conical felt cap called
the _pilleus_, see the illustration in §175. It is probable that this
was a survival of what had been in prehistoric times an essential part
of the Roman dress, for it was preserved among the insignia of the
oldest priesthoods, the Pontifices, Flamines, and Salii, and figured
in the ceremony of manumission. Out of the city, that is, while
traveling or while in the country, the upper classes, too, protected
the head, especially against the sun, with a broad-brimmed felt hat of
foreign origin, the _causia_ or _petasus_. They are shown in Figs. 93
and 94. They were worn in the city also by the old and feeble, and in
later times by all classes in the theaters. In the house, of course,
the head was left uncovered.
§253. The Hair and Beard.--The Romans in early times wore long hair
and full beards, as did all uncivilized peoples. Varro tells us that
professional barbers came first to Rome in the year 300 B.C., but we
know that the razor and shears were used by the Romans long before
history begins. Pliny says that the younger Scipio (†129 B.C.) was the
first of the Romans to shave every day, and the story may be true.
People of wealth and position had the hair and beard kept in order at
home by their own slaves (§150), and these slaves, if skillful
barbers, brought high prices in the market. People of the middle class
went to public barber shops, and made them gradually places of general
resort for the idle and the gossiping. But in all periods the hair and
beard were allowed to grow as a sign of sorrow, and were the regular
accompaniments of the mourning garb already mentioned (§246). The very
poor, too, went usually unshaven and unshorn, simply because this was
the cheap and easy fashion.
§254. Styles varied with the years of the persons concerned. The hair
of children, boys and girls alike, was allowed to grow long and hang
around the neck and shoulders. When the boy assumed the toga of
manhood the long locks were cut off, sometimes with a good deal of
formality, and under the Empire they were often made an offering to
some deity. In the classical period young men seem to have worn close
clipped beards; at least Cicero jeers at those who followed Catiline
for wearing full beards, and on the other hand declares that their
companions who could show no signs of beard on their faces were worse
than effeminate. Men of maturity wore the hair cut short and the face
shaved clean. Most of the portraits that have come down to us show
beardless men until well into the second century of our era, but after
the time of Hadrian (117-138 A.D.) the full beard became fashionable.
Figs. 2 to 11, §§28-74, are arranged chronologically and will serve to
show the changes in styles.
[Illustration: FIGURE 95. SEAL RINGS]
§255. Jewelry.--The ring was the only article of jewelry worn by a
Roman citizen after he reached the age of manhood (§99), and good
taste limited him to a single ring. It was originally of iron, and
though often set with a precious stone and made still more valuable by
the artistic cutting of the stone, it was always worn more for use
than ornament. The ring was in fact in almost all cases a seal ring,
having some device upon it (Fig. 95) which the wearer imprinted in
melted wax when he wished to acknowledge some document as his own, or
to secure cabinets and coffers against prying curiosity. The iron ring
was worn generally until late in the Empire, even after the gold ring
had ceased to be the special privilege of the knights and had become
merely the badge of freedom. Even the engagement ring (§71) was
usually of iron, the setting giving it its material value, although we
are told that this particular ring was often the first article of gold
that the young girl possessed.
§256. Of course there were not wanting men as ready to violate the
canons of taste in the matter of rings as in the choice of their
garments or the style of wearing the hair and beard. We need not be
surprised, then, to read of one having sixteen rings, or of another
having six for each finger. One of Martial's acquaintances had a ring
so large that the poet advised him to wear it on his leg, and Juvenal
tells us of an upstart who wore light rings in the summer and heavy
rings in the winter. It is a more surprising fact that the ring was
worn on the joint, not pressed down as far as possible on the finger,
as we wear them now. If two were worn on the same finger they were
worn on separate joints, not touching each other. This fashion must
have seriously interfered with the movement of the finger.
[Illustration: FIGURE 96. THE MAMILLARE]
§257. Dress of Women.--It has been remarked already (§234) that the
dress of men and women differed less in ancient than in modern times,
and we shall find that in the classical period at least the principal
articles worn were practically the same, however much they differed in
name and probably in the fineness of their materials. At this period
the dress of the matron consisted in general of three articles: the
_tunica interior_, the _tunica exterior_ or _stola_, and the _palla_.
Beneath the _tunica interior_ there was nothing like the modern
corset-waist or corset, intended to modify the figure, but a band of
soft leather (_mamillāre_) was sometimes passed around the body under
the breasts for a support (Fig. 96), and the _subligāculum_ (§235) was
also worn by women.
[Illustration: FIGURE 97. THE STROPHIUM]
§258. The Tunica Interior.--The _tunica interior_ did not differ much
in material or shape from the tunic for men already described (§236).
It fitted the figure more closely perhaps than the man's, was
sometimes supplied with sleeves, and as it reached only to the knee
did not require a belt to keep it from interfering with the free use
of the limbs. A soft sash-like band of leather (_strophium_), however,
was sometimes worn over it, close under the breasts, but merely to
support them, and in this case we may suppose that the _mamillāre_ was
discarded. For this sash (Fig. 97) the more general terms _zōna_ and
_cingulum_ are sometimes used. This tunic was not usually worn alone,
even in the house, except by young girls.
§259. The Stola.--Over the _tunica interior_ was worn the _tunica
exterior_, or _stola_, the distinctive dress of the Roman matron
(§91). It differed in several respects from the tunic worn as a
house-dress by men. It was open at both sides above the waist and
fastened on the shoulders by brooches. It was much longer, reaching to
the feet when ungirded and having in addition a wide border or flounce
(_īnstita_) sewed to the lower hem. There was also a border around the
neck, which seems to have been usually of purple. The _stola_ was
sleeveless if the _tunica interior_ had sleeves, but if the tunic
itself was sleeveless the _stola_ had them, so that the arm was always
protected. These sleeves, however, whether in tunic or _stola_, were
open on the front of the upper arm and only loosely clasped with
brooches or buttons, often of great beauty and value.
[Illustration: FIGURE 98. THE ZONA]
[Illustration: FIGURE 99. STATUE OF THE YOUNGER FAUSTINA]
§260. Owing to its great length the _stola_ was always worn with a
girdle (_zōna_) above the hips (Fig. 98), and through it the _stola_
itself was pulled until the lower edge of the _īnstita_ barely cleared
the floor. This gave the fullness about the waist seen in the statue
of Faustina (Fig. 99), in which the cut of the sleeves can also be
seen. The _zōna_ was usually entirely hidden by the overhanging folds.
The _stola_ was the distinctive dress of the matron, as has been said,
and it is probable that the _īnstita_ was its distinguishing feature;
that is, the _tunica exterior_ of the unmarried woman had no flounce
or border, though it probably reached to the floor.
[Illustration: FIGURE 100. STATUE FROM HERCULANEUM]
[Illustration: FIGURE 101. STATUE OF LIVIA]
§261. The Palla.--The _palla_ was a shawl-like wrap for use out of
doors. It was a rectangular piece of woolen goods, as simple as
possible in its form, but worn in the most diverse fashions in
different times. In the classical period it seems to have been wrapped
around the figure, much as the toga was. One-third was thrown over the
left shoulder from behind and allowed to fall to the feet. The rest
was carried around the back and brought forward either over or under
the right arm at the pleasure of the wearer. The end was then thrown
back over the left shoulder after the style of the toga, as in the
marble statue from Herculaneum shown in Fig. 100, or allowed to hang
loosely over the left arm, as in the statue of Livia (Fig. 101). It
was possible also to pull the _palla_ up over the head, and this
method of using it is supposed by some scholars to be shown in the
statue of Livia, while others see in the covering of the head some
sort of a veil.
§262. Shoes and Slippers.--What has been said of the footgear of men
(§§250, 251) applies also to that of women. Slippers (_soleae_) were
worn in the house, differing from those of men only in being
embellished as much as possible, sometimes even with pearls. An idea
of their appearance may be had from the statue of Faustina (§259).
Shoes (_calceī_) were insisted upon for out-door use, and differed
from those of men, as they chiefly differ from them now, in being made
of finer and softer leather. They were often white, or gilded, or of
bright colors, and those intended for winter wear had sometimes cork
soles.
[Illustration: FIGURE 102. STYLES OF DRESSING THE HAIR]
§263. Dressing of the Hair.--The Roman woman regularly wore no hat,
but covered the head when necessary with the _stola_ or with a veil.
Much attention was given to the arrangement of the hair, the fashions
being as numerous and as inconstant as they are to-day. For young
girls the favorite arrangement, perhaps, was to comb the hair back and
gather it into a knot (_nōdus_) on the back of the neck. For matrons
it will be sufficient to call attention to the figures already given
(§§77, 259, 261), and to show from statues five styles (Fig. 102) worn
at different times under the Empire, all belonging to ladies of the
court.
§264. For keeping the hair in position pins were used of ivory,
silver, and gold, often mounted with jewels. Nets (_rēticula_) and
ribbons (_vittae_, _taeniae_, _fasciolae_) were also worn, but combs
were not made a part of the head-dress. The Roman woman of fashion did
not scruple to color her hair, the golden-red color of the Greek hair
being especially admired, or to use false hair, which had become an
article of commercial importance early in the Empire. Mention should
also be made of the garlands (_corōnae_) of flowers, or of flowers and
foliage, and of the coronets of pearls and other precious stones that
were used to supplement the natural or artificial beauty of the hair.
These are illustrated in Fig. 102 above.
[Illustration: FIGURE 103. TOILET ARTICLES]
§265. The woman's hairdresser was a female slave (§150), and Juvenal
tells us that she suffered cruelly from the impatience of her mistress
(§158), who found the long hairpins shown in the figure a convenient
instrument of punishment, The _ōrnātrīx_ was an adept in all the
tricks of the toilet already mentioned, and besides used all sorts of
unguents, oils, and tonics to make the hair soft and lustrous and to
cause it to grow abundantly. In Fig. 103 are shown a number of common
toilet articles: _a_, _b_, _c_, _h_, _i_, and _k_ are hairpins, _d_
and _g_ are hand mirrors made of highly polished metal, _f_ is a comb,
and _e_ a box for pomatum or powder.
[Illustration: FIGURE 104. THE PARASOL]
[Illustration: FIGURE 105. FANS (See also Figure 73, §226)]
§266. Accessories.--The parasol (_umbrāculum_, _umbella_) was commonly
used by women at Rome at least as early as the close of the Republic,
and was all the more necessary because they wore no hats or bonnets.
The parasols were usually carried for them by attendants (§151). From
vase paintings we learn that they were much like our own in shape
(Fig. 104, see also Smith and Harper, s.v.; Baumeister, p. 1684;
Schreiber XCV, 9), and could be closed when not in use. The fan
(_flābellum_) was used from the earliest times and was made in various
ways (Fig. 105); sometimes of wings of birds, sometimes of thin sheets
of wood attached to a handle, sometimes of peacock's feathers
artistically arranged, sometimes of linen stretched over a frame.
These fans were not used by the woman herself, being always handled by
an attendant who was charged with the task of keeping her cool and
untroubled by flies (see Fig. 73 in §226). Handkerchiefs (_sūdāria_),
the finest made of linen, were used by both sexes, but only for wiping
the perspiration from the face or hands. For keeping the palms cool
and dry ladies seem also to have used glass balls, or balls of amber,
the latter, perhaps, for the fragrance also.
§267. Jewelry.--The Roman woman was passionately fond of jewelry, and
incalculable sums were spent upon the adornment of her person. Rings,
brooches, pins, jeweled buttons, and coronets have been mentioned
already, and besides these bracelets, necklaces, and ear-rings or
pendants were worn from the earliest times by all who could afford
them. Not only were they made of costly materials, but their value was
also enhanced by the artistic workmanship that was lavished upon them.
Almost all the precious stones that are known to us were familiar to
the Romans and were to be found in the jewel-casket (§230) of the
wealthy lady. The pearl, however, seems to have been in all times the
favorite. No adequate description of these articles can be given here;
no illustrations can do them justice. It will have to suffice that
Suetonius says that Caesar paid six million sesterces (nearly
$300,000) for a single pearl, which he gave to Servilia, the mother of
Marcus Brutus, and that Lollia Paulina, the wife of the Emperor
Caligula, possessed a single set of pearls and emeralds which is said
by Pliny the elder to have been valued at forty million sesterces
(nearly $2,000,000).
§268. Dress of Children and Slaves.--The picture from Herculaneum
(§119) shows that schoolboys wore the _subligāculum_ and _tunica_, and
it is probable that no other articles of clothing were worn by either
boys or girls of the poorer classes. Besides these, children of
well-to-do parents wore the _toga praetexta_ (§246), which the girl
laid aside on the eve of her marriage (§76) and the boy when he
reached the age of manhood (§127). Slaves were furnished a tunic,
wooden shoes, and in stormy weather a cloak, probably the _paenula_
(§248). This must have been the ordinary garb of the poorer citizens
of the working classes, for they would have had little use for the
toga, at least in later times, and could hardly have afforded so
expensive a garment.
§269. Materials.--Fabrics of wool, linen, cotton, and silk were used
by the Romans. For clothes woolen goods were the first to be used, and
naturally so, for the early inhabitants of Latium were shepherds, and
woolen garments best suited the climate. Under the Republic wool was
almost exclusively used for the garments of both men and women, as we
have seen, though the _subligāculum_ was frequently, and the woman's
tunic sometimes, made of linen. The best native wools came from
Calabria and Apulia, that from near Tarentum being the best of all.
Native wools did not suffice, however, to meet the great demand, and
large quantities were imported. Linen goods were early manufactured in
Italy, but were used chiefly for other purposes than clothing until in
the Empire, and only in the third century of our era did men begin to
make general use of them. The finest linen came from Egypt, and was as
soft and transparent as silk. Little is positively known about the use
of cotton, because the word _carbasus_, the genuine Indian name for
it, was used by the Romans for linen goods also and when we meet the
word we can not always be sure of the material meant. Silk, imported
from China directly or indirectly, was first used for garments under
Tiberius, and then only in a mixture of linen and silk (_vestēs
sēricae_). These were forbidden for the use of men in his reign, but
the law was powerless against the love of luxury. Garments of pure
silk were first used in the third century.
§270. Colors.--White was the prevailing color of all articles of dress
throughout the Republic, in most cases the natural color of the wool,
as we have seen (§246). The lower classes, however, selected for their
garments shades that required cleansing less frequently, and found
them, too, in the undyed wool. From Canusium came a brown wool with a
tinge of red, from Baetica in Spain a light yellow, from Mutina a gray
or a gray mixed with white, from Pollentia in Liguria the dark gray
(_pulla_) used, as has been said (§246), for public mourning. Other
shades from red to deep black were furnished by foreign wools. Almost
the only artificial color used for garments under the Republic was
purple, which seems to have varied from what we call crimson, made
from the native trumpet-shell (_būcinum_ or _mūrex_), to the true
Tyrian purple. The former was brilliant and cheap, but liable to fade.
Mixed with the dark _purpura_ in different proportions, it furnished a
variety of permanent tints. One of the most popular of these tints,
violet, made the wool cost some $20 a pound, while the genuine Tyrian
cost at least ten times as much. Probably the stripes worn by the
knights and senators on the tunics and togas were much nearer our
crimson than purple. Under the Empire the garments worn by women were
dyed in various colors, and so, too, perhaps, the fancier articles
worn by men, such as the _lacerna_ (§247) and the _synthesis_ (§249).
The _trabea_ of the augurs seems to have been striped with scarlet and
purple, the _palūdāmentum_ of the general to have been at different
times white, scarlet, and purple, and the robe of the _triumphātor_
purple.
§271. Manufacture.--In the old days the wool was spun at home by the
maidservants working under the eye of the mistress (§199), and woven
into cloth on the family loom, and this was kept up throughout the
Republic by some of the proudest families. Augustus wore these
home-made garments. By the end of the Republic, however, this was no
longer general, and while much of the native wool was worked up on the
farms by the slaves directed by the _vīlica_ (§148), cloth of any
desired quality could be bought in the open market. It was formerly
supposed that the garments came from the loom ready to wear, but this
is now known to have been incorrect. We have seen that the tunic was
made of two separate pieces sewed together (§236), that the toga had
probably to be fitted as carefully as a modern coat (§243), and that
even the coarse _paenula_ (§248) could not have been woven or knitted
in one piece. But ready-made garments were on sale in the towns as
early as the time of Cato, though perhaps of the cheaper qualities
only, and in the Empire the trade reached large proportions. It is
remarkable that with the vast numbers of slaves in the _familia
urbāna_ (§149 f.) it never became usual to have soiled garments
cleansed at home. All garments showing traces of use were sent by the
well-to-do to the fullers (_fullōnēs_) to be washed (Fig. 106),
whitened (or re-dyed), and pressed. The fact that almost all were of
woolen materials made skill and care all the more necessary.
[Illustration: FIGURE 106. FULLERS AT WORK]