Thus through her silk a lady’s body looks,
Thus count we pebbles in the sparkling brooks.
De Pallatinis dominæ quod Serica prelis. L. xi. 9.
Here Martial alludes to the employment of presses (prela) for preserving the garments of silk and other precious materials, belonging to the Empress, in the same way, in which we now use presses to keep table-linen. He says to a lady (L. ix. 38.),
Nec dentes aliter, quam Serica, nocte reponas.
Your teeth at night, like silks, you lay aside.
In another passage (L. xi. 27.) he speaks of silken goods (Serica) as procurable in the Vicus Tuscus at Rome: and lastly in L. xiv. Ep. 24, he mentions ribbons or fillets of silk as used for adorning the hair.
Tenuia ne madidi violent bombycina crines,
Figat acus tortas, sustineatque comas.
Lest your moist hair defile the ribbons thin,