[231] Plin. xviii. 12, sect. 51, p. 475.
[232] It is beyond all doubt that the words _sapo_ and σάπων were
derived from the German _sepe_, which has been retained in the
Low German, the oldest and original dialect of our language. In
the High German this derivation has been rendered a little more
undistinguishable by the _p_ being changed into the harder _f_. Such
changes are common, as _schap_, _schaf_; _schip_, _schiff_, &c.
[233] De Simplicibus Medicaminibus, p. 90, G.
[234] According to Aretæus De Diuturnis Morbis, ii. 13, p. 98, soap
appears to have been formed into balls.
[235] Mart. xiv. 27. This soap acquired the epithet of _Mattiacum_ from
the name of a place which was in Hesse.
[236]
Caustica Teutonicos accendit spuma capillos,
Captivis poteris cultior esse comis.--Mart. xiv. 26.
These lines are generally explained in this manner:--“Dye thy hair with
soap, and it will become more beautiful than that of the Germans.” But
in this case all the wit of the advice is lost; and the expression,
“eris cultior quam comæ captivæ,” seems to me to be very improper. I
should rather translate them as follows:--“Let the Germans dye their
hair with pomade; as they are now subdued, thou mayst ornament thyself
better with a peruke made of the hair of these captives.” This was a
piece of delicate flattery to Domitian and the Roman pride. That prince
thought he had conquered the Germans; and the most beautiful German
hair, that which was not dyed, could be procured, therefore, at Rome,
much easier than before. If the title of this epigram was written by
Martial himself, it contains the first mention of the word _sapo_.
[237]
Fortior et tortos servat vesica capillos,
Et mutat Latias spuma Batava comas.--Mart. viii. 23, 19.
The first line of the above proves that people then covered their
heads, in the night-time, with a bladder to keep their hair, after it
was dressed, from being deranged; and a bladder was undoubtedly as fit
for that use as the nets and cauls employed for the like purpose at
present.
[238]
Femina canitiem Germanis inficit herbis.
Ovidius De Arte Amandi, iii. 163.
[239]
Valer. Max. i. 5, p. 135: Capillos cinere rutilarunt.
Ad rutilam speciem nigros flavescere crines,
Unguento cineris prædixit Plinius auctor.
Q. Serenus, De Medic. iv. 56.
Serenus seems to allude to a passage of Pliny, xxiii. 2, p. 306, where
he speaks of an ointment made from the burnt lees of vinegar and _oleum
lentiscinum_. The same thing is mentioned in Dioscorides, v. 132, p.
379. Servius, Æn. iv. quotes the following words from Cato: “Mulieres
nostræ cinere capillum ungitabant, ut rutilus esset crinis.” Alex.
Trallianus, 1, 3, gives directions how to make an ointment for gray
hair from soap and the ashes of the white flowers of the _Verbascum_.
The _Cinerarii_, however, of Tertullian, lib. ii. _ad uxor._ 8, p. 641,
seem to have been only hair-dressers, who were so called because they
warmed their curling-irons among the hot ashes.
[240] Pliny says that spots of the skin may be removed by ox-gall.
[241] Odyss. vi. 91.
[242] Iliad, ix. 14, and xvi. 4.
[243] Geopon. vii. 6.--Plin. xiv. cap. 21.--Columella, xii. 50. 14.
[244] Arnobius, vii. p. 237.
[245] The word λίτρον in Pollux ought not to have been translated
_sapo_.
[246] Cicer. Ep. Fam. viii. 14.--Pollucis Onom. viii. 9, 39; x.
135.--Ovid. De Medicam. Faciei, ver. 73 et 85.--Phavorini Dictionar. p.
527. Gynesius calls clothes washed with _nitrum_, νιτρούμενα, _nitro
perfricata_.
[247] Lib. xi. p. 801.
[248] De Mirabil. Auscult. c. 54.
[249] Hist. Mirab. c. 162, p. 216.
[250] Lib. xxxi. 10, p. 564.
[251] J. D. Michaelis Commentationes, 4to, p. 151. I must mention also
C. Schoettgenii Antiquitates Fulloniæ, Traj. 1727, 8vo. My readers will
do me a pleasure if they compare the above work with this article. No
one will accuse me of vanity when I pretend to understand the theory
of washing better than the learned Schöttgen; but if I have explained
the passages which he quotes in a more satisfactory manner, and turned
them to more advantage, I must ascribe this superiority to my knowledge
of that art. I shall here take occasion to remark, that there is no
subject, however trifling, which may not be rendered useful, or at
least agreeable, by being treated in a scientific manner; and to turn
such into ridicule, instead of displaying wit, would betray a want of
judgment.
[252] Plin. xxviii. 6; xxviii. 8.--Martial. vi. ep. 93.--Athenæus, xi.
p. 484. Macrobius, ii. 12, speaking of drunken people, “Dum eunt, nulla
est in angiporto amphora, quam non impleant, quippe qui vesicam plenam
vini habeant.” This passage is quoted also in Joh. Sarisberg. Polior.
viii. 7, p. 479.
[253] Sueton. in Vita Vespas. viii. 23.
[254] Porner’s Anleitung zur Farbekunst, p. 31.
[255] Those numbered 3, 4, 5, 6.
[256] This plant was sent by Imperati to Casp. Bauhin, under the name
of _lanaria veterum_; and the latter made it first known in his Pinax
Plant. iv. p. 206. The former described it himself, and gave a bad
engraving of it, in Hist. Nat. p. 871. Löffling found this plant on the
Spanish mountains, as well as in the neighbourhood of Aranjuez; and
he relates, that in the province of La Mancha the people boil clothes
that are to be washed with the root of this plant _instead of soap_.
Linnæus did not hesitate to declare the _struthium_ of the ancients
and the _struthium_ of his system to be the same plant; and he gave
his countrymen reason to hope that their _Gypsophila fastigiata_,
which has a great resemblance to it, might be employed in the like
manner.--Amœnitat. Academ. v. p. 329.
[257] Salmas. ad Solin. p. 818. a.
[258] De Alimentor. Facultate, i. cap. 19. in Op. vol. iv. p. 315.
[259] Lib. xvii. 18.
[260] Pollux.--Plin.
[261] Dioscor.
[262] This _terra Lemnia_ is entirely different from sealing-earth. See
Galen. De Simplic. Med.
[263] Plin.
[264] Plin. The _Sarda_ was cheap, and purchased by measure; the
_Umbria_ was dearer, and sold by weight.
[265] Theophrast. Dioscor.
[266] I here mean that it got its name from being employed to clean
that piece of armour, formerly used, which covered only the breast and
the back, and which was called a _koller_. The Swedes also call yellow
iron-ochre _kiöllerfärg_ or _kyllerfarg_.
[267] See Taubmann’s Annotations to Plauti Aulular. iv. sc. 9, 6.
[268] Geopon. vii. 6.--Plin. xiv. cap. 21.--Columella, xii. 50, 14.
[269] Pollux, vii. 11, 41, 715.--Plin. xxxv. 17, p. 719; and xxxv. 15,
p. 714.--Isidor. Origin. xvi. 1.
[270] Lib. xxxv. cap. 17, sec. 57.
[271] Du Cange in his Glossarium.
[272] I acknowledge myself one of those who cannot form a proper idea
of the Roman _toga_. It is certain that the weavers made each piece
of cloth only large enough to be fit for this article of dress; or
that when one _toga_ was wove, it was cut from the loom, in order
that another might be begun. On this account we find so often the
expressions _texere vestes_, _texere togas_. It appears, also, that the
_toga_, when it came from the hands of the weaver, was quite ready for
use; and we therefore never read of tailors, but when torn clothes were
to be mended. The _toga_ had no sleeves, and perhaps no seam. If it
was stitched along the edges before, half-way up, the assistance of a
tailor would not be necessary for that purpose. It was bound round the
body with a girdle, and fastened with clasps. Such a mantle could be
easily made and easily scoured. One may now readily comprehend why the
Roman authors never mention cloth manufactories, or cloth, among the
articles of commerce, but speak only of clothes; and why we never read
of cloth being measured.
[273] Waterston’s Encyclopædia of Commerce.