Gallus; or, Roman scenes of the time of Augustus. With notes and excursuses illustrative of the manners and customs of the Romans / Translated from the German by the Rev. Frederick Metcalfe.
- Wilhelm Adolf Becker
- Date:
- 1844
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Gallus; or, Roman scenes of the time of Augustus. With notes and excursuses illustrative of the manners and customs of the Romans / Translated from the German by the Rev. Frederick Metcalfe. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![case it would not be mentioned, be- sides the 'TreTroLicikfxevoi. Salmasius misquotes Firmicus Maternus, iii. 13, 10, and from this decides upon the work of the plumarii; but that Fir- micus, by plumarii^ did not mean fabricators of gold-embroidered gar- ments, is plain, from his always de- noting these by periphrasis, iii. 36—12, Of whatever form the plumes were, whether as Salmasius supposes clavi, or orbiculi^ the plumatce vestes were in every case gold-embroidered. Var- ro in Nonius ii. p. 716, expressly distinguishes the plumarius from the teoctoT. Moreover, if his business consisted merely in sewing on notes rotundee, c^aui(and leXov/ua can only be explained to be something of this sort,) then the art required was not very great; and what need was there, didicisse pingere in order to under- stand it ? And how unsuitable would gold embroidery have been for pul- vinares plages^ for which the softest stuffs possible were used. Martial iii. 62, 7- Still less can we reconcile with the above explanation the passage of Vitruvius, (B. vi. 7) where the work- shops of the plumarii are called teoo- trmes. Their business then was not to adorn with embroidery, garments already made, but to weave in some peculiar manner; and there is nothing about gold, but about colours, which must be kept from the sun that they may not fade. The expression seems to require some other explanation, and however near the connexion may seem to be ]>etween plumarius and plumata ves- tis, still Varro and Vitruvius pro- bably allude to an entirely different kind of work. In the Glossaries plumarius is translated by Tri-iXofSa- (pos, (feather-dyer), which Salmasius changes into ^piXojSdcpos, in which (SaTT'reLv is to denote variare gene- rally, as well as to embroider ! If a printing in colours had been alluded to, then this would have been possi- ble. But /SaTn-eti/ cannot have this signification, any more than the Ro- mans would have said tingere vestes instead of acu pingere. On the con- trary 7n-t\o/3a7n-772 appears very cor- rect. When Martial, xii. 17, says of a fever that will not leave Lentulus because he takes too good care of it, dormit et in pluma purpiireoqiie toro, this may no doubt be under- stood of the feathers with which in later times the cushions were stuffed. But the same explanation will hardly suit Epig. xiv. 146, Lemma Cervical: Tinge caput nardi folio: cervical debit; Perdidit unguentum cum coma, pluma tenet, for the ointment could only be com- municated to the pillow-case. Still less could it be admissible, with Bottiger, Sabina, to understand what Propertius says of Foetus, Effultum pluma versicolore caput, iii. 7, 50, as alluding to cushions which were stuffed with feathers of divers colours. On these grounds, 1 am inclined to believe that the plumarii prepared real feather-tapestry, with which the pulvini and cervicalia were covered ; and the same is probably meant by TCTepooTo. Kai -rTTiXcoTa 'TrpocrKecpdX- daia. Pollio X. 1, 10. If in modern days we have succeeded in construct- ing from coloured feathers tapestry of a very durable nature, covered with all sorts of emblems, why should not the ancients, who certainly in many things shewed greater cunning of hand than we do, obtain credit for equal ingenuity ? Seneca, A’p. 00, also speaks of garments even, made of feathers; phrmarius andTn-iXo- (3d(po-3 {from pluma ; if from plionare, it would be plumator,) is he who works in feathers, as lanarius, he who works in wool, argentnrius in silver, etc.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29319560_0036.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
