Dress.
The tunica was worn indoors, when the toga was thrown off, and also outdoors, when the toga was worn over it. In the later times in cold weather two or more tunics were worn. The tunica was a kind of woolen shirt, at first without sleeves, then with short sleeves reaching to the elbows, and in the time of the empire long sleeves were attached to it. It reached down to the calves and even to the ankles. It was often fastened to the waist by a girdle, which was used as a purse for holding money.
Another garment was the pænula, a kind of cloak made of thick wool and leather, and worn over the toga in traveling in bad weather. Another kind of cloak, worn over the toga or tunica, was the lacuna, which was made of lighter and more costly material and was worn for show as well as for use. To both pænula and lacuna could be added a hood (cucullus) for further protection from the weather.
The women in the early times wore the toga and the tunica the same as the men. The tunica continued to be worn but there arose as distinct apparel for women, the stola and the palla. The stola was an oblong garment worn over the tunica and extended to the feet. It was open at the top on either side for the arms to go through and fastened on both shoulders with clasps or brooches (fibulæ), which often were quite costly articles. A girdle was drawn around it at the waist and then it was pulled up and allowed to fall over the girdle till the girdle was covered by the folds and then the lower part of the stola was pulled down till it just touched the ground. At the bottom there was an ornamental border. Sometimes there were sleeves to it, which were open below and fastened together with gold or jeweled buttons or clasps. The stola was a special garment that was permitted to be worn only by married women of unblemished reputation. "The common courtesans were not allowed to appear in the stola, but were compelled to wear a sort of gown, resembling the habit of the opposite sex, and which was regarded as a mark of infamy."[188]
The palla was a kind of cloak worn out of doors over the stola. It was somewhat similar to the toga, as it was a square or oblong piece of cloth. Like the toga, too, it was thrown forward over the left shoulder and let fall to the feet, and then drawn over or under the right shoulder and pulled across the breast and thrown over the left arm or shoulder. When necessary to protect the head, the palla could be drawn up over it like the toga.
The prevalent material of Roman clothing was always woolen and up to the end of the republic the only materials used were wool and linen. Sheep-raising for wool was one of the very most important industries. Foreign wools, however, were imported, because the supply of native wool was not sufficient to meet the demand and also by importing foreign wool a variety of natural colors could be obtained, as brown, red, black, golden-brown, reddish, and grayish. Goats' wool was not often used for wearing apparel, usually only for coarse cloaks and overshoes. It was woven into rough and heavy cloths for tent-coverings, blankets, and the like, and goats' hair was used for making ropes and cables.
Linen was used for the under-garments of both men and women and for women's belts and girdles and also linen thread was made. In the later times the finer grades of linen for handkerchiefs, table-cloths, napkins, bedding, and suits were all imported. Cotton and cotton fabrics were introduced from the far East into Greece and thence into Rome. Silk began to be used by the women toward the end of the republic and by men under the empire.
The color of clothing was originally white, which was prescribed by law for the toga. Poor people, slaves, and freedmen had their clothing of the natural brown or black color of the wool. The mourning garments of the upper classes were of dark color—black or dark blue. In later periods the women got to using a variety of colors, selecting such as the mode directed or as suited their particular taste, as scarlet, violet, purple, yellow, blue, and many other colors. In imperial times the men adopted a variety of colors for their garments, too. The wearing of genuine purple, however, remained the exclusive privilege of the emperors.
In early times the spinning and weaving was done at home under the direction of the mistress of the house. But it was not long till the work of the home did not suffice to supply the demand and large factories (officionæ) were established for the weaving of both woolen and linen goods. The garments were prepared with needle and scissors, each wealthy household having several tailors among its slaves. Before they could be used for garments, the woolen cloths had to be finished by the fuller, who not only finished new cloths but also cleansed and restored old garments.
The Romans, usually, whether indoors or out, went bareheaded, both men and women. In case of heat or cold or rain, the men would pull the upper part of the toga up over the head and the women used the palla in the same way. There were times, however, when they did wear coverings upon their heads, as, at the sacrifices, at the public games, at the Saturnalia, upon a journey, or upon a warlike expedition. Also the working-classes exposed to the weather wore a head-covering. These coverings were the pileus and the petasus. The pileus was a close-fitting felt cap and the petasus was a felt hat with a round brim. Sometimes the cucullus, a hood, was worn in place of the pileus. For ornamentation the women would wear a veil, which was fastened to the top of the head and drooped over neck and back in graceful folds. They also wore the mitra, which was a cloth wound round the head to form a kind of cap. They also wore a head-covering in the form of a net made of gold-thread.
In the early times men wore their hair long and this was continued for a long time and the wearing of short hair made slow progress and only among the higher classes. In the late empire the close-cropped hair became the fashion. Before the time of cropped hair it was sometimes worn in wavy locks and again, by means of the curling-iron, it was arranged in short curls and perfumed. Also false hair was used. The ancient Romans wore their beards very long. The wearing the beard long continued till the later years of the republic when it became the custom to shave the face, but full beards came into fashion again in the later empire. "The first hair cut from the head of a child, and a youth's first beard, were consecrated to the gods; but the coins of the late republican period show plainly that young men usually wore a beard, though carefully trimmed and dressed, and were seldom clean-shaven before forty."[189] There were barber-shops among the Romans and they were the gathering-places of idlers and the centers of male gossip. Among the furnishings were razors, tools to pull out the beard, scissors, pomatums to remove hair where not desired, combs, curling-irons, mirrors, towels, etc.
The ways of arranging the hair by the women varied in the different periods. In the first centuries of the republic, there seems to have been two general fashions. The hair was either parted or unparted and then combed back in wavy lines and gathered together in a knot at the back of the head, low down on the neck, and fastened with ribbons or clasps, or it was wound round the top of the head like a crown. In another way the hair was carried around the head in long curls, or the front hair was plaited and connected with the back hair, etc. These simple ways of arranging the hair gave place to many variegated ways and hair-dressing became a science and the women employed special maid-servants for the purpose or had in their employ female hairdressers. In one fashion there was a tower-like headdress, the natural hair being helped out with artificial hair or with wigs. The hair was frizzled and curled and perfumed and dyed. It was kept in place by means of ribbons and pins and hair-pins of metal or ivory and adorned with gold ornaments and pearls and jewels. The hair was sometimes gracefully adorned with wreaths of flowers or of branches with leaves and blossoms.
The Romans wore shoes (calcei) and sandals (sandalia). There were several kinds of shoes worn, as every Roman order and every tribe or gens had a distinctive kind of shoe. The sutor, or shoemaker, had a particularly respectable calling at Rome. The pero was for wet and snowy weather; it was made of raw hide and it was similar to a boot, reaching up to the middle of the leg. The calceus senatorius was of black leather with four straps. The calceus mulleus was made of red leather, with a high heel, and with straps to fasten it about the ankle. It had on its front a crescent-shaped piece of ivory, the lunula, which was of very ancient origin, and, like the bulla, may, perhaps, have had the force of a charm. The caliga was worn by the soldiers, which was a kind of boot, reaching to the middle of the leg, and the sole was of wood and stuck full of nails. There seemed to have been worn, too, a kind of sock or stocking that reached to the middle of the leg and tied with laces from the instep to the calf. The ladies of the upper classes, for outdoors wore shoes made of fine leather and richly embroidered in silk and gold. In the house both men and women wore sandals (soleæ). The sandals and shoes were tied on with straps, which were wound round the foot and the leg upward from the ankle.
The Roman ladies wore many different kinds of ornaments, made of precious metals, ivory, jewels, and pearls. They wore earrings, a very common form being pearls and jewels attached to hooks of gold and then fastened to the ears. There were hair-pins of metal and ivory, made in various forms, some of which contained eyes for the fastening of strings of pearls. They had necklaces of gold with jewels and pearls attached to them. Bracelets, made in the form of snakes, simple ribbons, plaited gold threads, and other styles, were worn at the wrist or above the elbow, with a sleeveless tunic. They had rings adorned with jewels and cameos. They wore chains of gold around the neck, sometimes five or six feet in length. They fastened their girdles and other parts of the dress with buckles and brooches, made of silver and gold and frequently studded with jewels and cameos. Some of these ornaments were also worn by the men, as, rings and bracelets. All the principal precious stones, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, opals, were known to the Romans. They prized the pearl above all other gems and often paid great prices for them. "Julius Cæsar is said to have given to Servilia, the mother of Marcus Brutus, a solitaire pearl for which he paid six million sesterces ($262,500), while Caligula received with his wife, Lollia Paulina a complete parure of pearls and emeralds, which was an heirloom in her family; a part of the spoils taken in Eastern war by her grandfather, Marcus Lollius, in the year 2 B. C., and valued at forty million sesterces ($2,180,000)."[190]
"About the mysteries of the toilette of the Roman ladies, mercilessly laid bare by the authors of imperial times, we shall say little. Great care was particularly bestowed on the complexion, and on the artificial reproduction of other charms, lost too soon in the exciting atmosphere of imperial court-life. During the night a mask (tectorium) of dough and ass's milk was laid on the face, to preserve the complexion; this mask was an invention of Poppæa, the wife of Nero, hence its name Poppæana. Another mask, composed of rice and bean-flour, served to remove the wrinkles from the face. It was washed off in the morning with tepid ass's milk and the face afterwards bathed in fresh ass's milk several times in the course of the day. Poppæa was, for the purpose, always accompanied in her travels by herds of she-asses. The two chief paints used for the face were a white (creta cerussa) and a red substance (fucus minium purpurissum), moistened with spittle. Brows and eyelashes were dyed black, or painted over; even the veins on the temples were masked with lines of a tender blue color. Many different pastes and powders were used to preserve and clean the teeth. Artificial teeth made of ivory and fastened with gold thread were known to the Romans at the time when the laws of the twelve tablets were made, one of which laws prohibited the deposition of gold in the graves of the dead, excepting the material required for the fastening of false teeth."[191]
As an aid in the preparation of the toilet and the like, the Romans had mirrors. These were not made of glass but of polished metal. They were square or round and of various sizes, some being equal in size to a grown-up person. Some of the mirrors had handles for holding with the hand, some were made so as to hang on the wall, and others could be placed upright.