They comb its fleece. This man with headlong course
Hunts motley tunics which inflame desire,
Invents new looms, and weaves a feather’d vest,
Which with the plumage of the birds compares:
That, scented with cosmetics, basely sheds
Effeminate foreign powder all around.
PALLADIUS.
A work remains under the name of Palladius on “The Nations of India and the Brachmans.” Whether it is by the same Palladius, who wrote the Historia Lausiaca, is disputed. But, as we see no reason to doubt, that it may have been written as early as his time, we introduce here the passages, which have been found in it, relating to the present subject. The author represents the Bramins as saying to Alexander the Great, “You envelope yourselves in soft clothing, like the silk-worms.” (p. 17. ed. Bissœi.) It is also asserted, that Alexander did not pass the Ganges, but went as far as Serica, where the silk-worms produce raw-silk (p. 2.).
In the London edition this tract is followed by one in Latin, bearing the name of St. Ambrose and entitled De moribus Brachmanorum. It contains nearly the same matter with the preceding. The writer professes to have obtained his information from “Musæus Dolenorum Episcopus,” meaning, as it appears from the Greek tract, Moses, Bishop of Adule, of whom he says,
Sericam ferè universam regionem peragravit: in quâ refert arbores esse, quæ non solum folia, sed lanam quoque proferunt tenuissimam, ex quâ vestimenta con ficiuntur, quæ Serica nuncupantur. p. 58.