After these words he says, that among the richest productions of distant climates the Seres sent their “new fleeces.” The remotest countries thus contributed to increase the luxury of Rome, and we shall now see how silk, one of the most costly and the most admired of its recent acquisitions, was used by its poets to represent the polish of elevated life and to adorn their language with rich and beautiful allusions. The webs, which they mention, are either those still obtained from Cos, or those imported from the country of the Seres.
TIBULLUS.
A Coan vest for girls.
L. ii. 4.
She may thin garments wear, which female Coan hands
Have woven, and in stripes dispos’d the golden bands.
L. ii. 6.
The latter of these two passages is remarkable as showing that the Coan women practised the elegant art of interweaving gold thread in their silken webs. The gold was no doubt displayed in transverse stripes.
PROPERTIUS.
Why thus, my life, display thy braided hair,