Even from hemp, very superior cloths were produced[[1299]] in antiquity, especially amongst the Thracians, in whose country this plant was found both in a cultivated and a wild state. It differed very little from flax, except in its superior height and thickness; and the fabrics manufactured from it were not to be distinguished from linen, save by the most experienced judges. From hair, too, they both wove and plaited a variety of garments, among which would seem to have been a sort of mantle for ladies.[[1300]] Sacks, too, were manufactured from the same materials, together with socks, whips, and fishing-lines. The Egyptians, we may observe by the way, wove fine cloths and sails, and made ropes, from the fibre of the papyrus plant,[[1301]] as the Indians did from a sort of grass or fine rush.[[1302]]
In the island of Cos existed, from a very early age, the art of rearing silkworms and weaving silk. As these insects, however, fed on the leaves of the pine, the ash, and the oak, the white mulberry not having been yet introduced into Greece, the silk they produced was very different in quality from that of China. The art of unwinding the cocoons and spinning the threads was invented by Pamphila, daughter of Plates,[[1303]] who thus became the benefactress of her country, whose fabrics were universally admired for their delicacy, fineness, and transparency, since they allowed the whole form and colour of the body to be distinguished through them, like the gauze chemises worn by the Turkish ladies in the recesses of the harem.[[1304]] Another kind of silk was manufactured by the ancients from the floss-like beard of the pinna marina, or silk-worm of the sea,[[1305]] found on the coasts of Asia Minor, Sicily, and the Balearic isles. This kind of silk was evidently, at one period, held in the highest estimation, since we find the emperors of Rome bestowing robes of it as a mark of their imperial favour on the satraps of Armenia. In modern times, however, this branch of industry has been almost totally neglected, though very warm and beautiful winter gloves and stockings are still manufactured from it at Tarento. A pair of these gloves was considered of sufficient importance to be presented as a gift to Pope Benedict the Fourteenth.[[1306]]
But not for lightness and fineness only were the silks and other delicate fabrics of the ancients valued. They were variegated[[1307]] with stripes, lozenges, the figures of birds and other animals, sprigs, flowers,[[1308]] and stars,[[1309]] inwoven into their texture, and of the most brilliant and beautiful colours.
Occasionally, moreover, when the ground of the whole tissue was white, a border of fanciful scrolls, leaves, and flowers, intermingling their several tints, extended round the whole robe or mantle, which was sometimes also bedropped with asterisks of gold. Their flowered silks, and cloths of various colours, were worn, not only by ladies in their dresses, but occasionally, also, by vain young men, who thus exposed themselves to the derision of the multitude. Bed-curtains, too, and the hangings of apartments[[1310]] were of variegated stuffs. In the manufacturing of tapestry[[1311]] and drapery for the statues and temples of the gods, the greatest possible magnificence and beauty were displayed. Whole years were devoted to the production of a single piece, which exhibited views of landscapes and cities, together with figures of gods, and heroes, and groups of warriors, sometimes arranged in religious processions, at other times engaged in battle, where the scene, the combatants, their armour, their weapons, and the flowing gore were represented by various colours to the life.[[1312]] In the manufacture of carpets, the Greeks displayed great taste and elegance, whether we regard the figures of animals, trees, or flowers, with which they were inwrought, or their pile, softness, and texture.[[1313]] Many times when they had not been flowered by the hand of the weaver, they were adorned by the ladies themselves with sprigs, and leaves, and figures, in embroidery; sometimes of various bright colours, at others with threads of gold.[[1314]] Even napkins in Egypt were embroidered with golden flowers,[[1315]] as both these and all kinds of handkerchiefs still are throughout the East. In Greece, the fine soft vests which warriors[[1316]] wore beneath their shirts of mail were usually figured with rich embroidery by the females of their family.
It appears to be generally supposed,[[1317]] that silver threads were not employed until a very recent period, either in weaving or embroidery;[[1318]] we find mention, however, in Philo Judæus,[[1319]] of purple coverlets inwrought with silver and gold. But at length the love of show and magnificence rose to so high a pitch, that robes were woven entirely of threads of gold.[[1320]] Ribbons also were manufactured of the same materials, and several fragments of these fabrics have more than once been discovered in cinerary urns at Rome, though the greediness of the finder has almost invariably led to their being melted down.[[1321]] At a later period stuffs were woven partly of silk or woollen and partly of gold.[[1322]]
Of gloves[[1323]] the Greeks made little use, though they must have observed very early, that they were worn by the Persians, and probably by other nations of Asia.[[1324]] Nay even among their own rustics they would appear to have been in fashion as far back as the heroic ages.[[1325]] The principal customers, therefore, of the Hellenic glovers were the hedgers and ditchers, woodmen, and actors; for on the stage it was frequently necessary to appear in gloves,[[1326]] either in order to disguise the colour or augment the size of the hands, or, as in the case of the Furies, to give them the appearance of being furnished with talons like those of the hippogriff.[[1327]]
Stockings properly so called, were perhaps little known to the Greeks, though we find mention made of certain socks woven from the cotonaceous filaments of a species of river truffle,[[1328]] which must have resembled them very closely both in form and texture. Besides, we see in works of art representations of this kind of sock reaching nearly to the knees, and somewhat loose, which may probably therefore have been woven. But the common sock, like the hat, was of felt,[[1329]] and usually white,[[1330]] fitting close to the foot and leg, and chiefly worn by women, with shoes or sandals,[[1331]] and sometimes in lieu of them,[[1332]] though in some cases it occupied the same place in the costume of the Greeks as it does in modern times.
The Hellenic cordwainers[[1333]] appear in every age to have carried on a thriving trade, since all the world, with the exception of a few philosophers, went well shod. Their workshops seem to have been neatly furnished. The shoes already made, whether plain or gilded,[[1334]] used to be ranged on shelves fixed up against the wall with fanciful brackets, while their lasts, pastepots, pincers, awls,[[1335]] and other implements, were kept in armories, sometimes furnished with double folding-doors, four or five deep shelves, and extremely elegant in form. Their cutting-boards[[1336]] were made from the wood of the wild pear-tree which being of a close hard grain kept their knives constantly in edge. Among the Israelites we find mention made of shoes of badger-skins.[[1337]]
Of the various processes resorted to for tanning, dressing, and dyeing leather,[[1338]] whether to be worked up into clothing, armour, shoes, or parchment, too little by far is known. We are merely informed that, in removing the hair from hides and skins, they made use of the berries of the white briony;[[1339]] that, in preparing them for receiving any dye or colour, the seeds of the sumach[[1340]] were employed; and that the bark of the fir-tree and the wood of the alder,[[1341]] reduced to chips, entered into various preparations for dressing and dyeing.[[1342]] Fawn-skins among the Thracians were prepared probably with the hair on,[[1343]] for a sort of buskins,[[1344]] and the skins of sheep,[[1345]] and dogs,[[1346]] beavers,[[1347]] otters, and badgers, tanned in a variety of ways, sometimes with and sometimes without the hair, were appropriated to the manufacture of various articles of dress. Leather, moreover, was dyed of every bright colour,[[1348]] purple, scarlet, and crimson, and occasionally gilded or flowered with gold,[[1349]] for sandals, thongs, and other purposes.
The manufacture of hats and caps,[[1350]] though a less important branch of industry than among the northern nations of modern times, afforded nevertheless employment to a pretty numerous class of persons. At Athens it was not fashionable in fine weather to wear a hat at all, chiefly, perhaps, because the practice was supposed to hasten the approach of grey hairs;[[1351]] but in those seasons of the year when sudden showers were looked for, cautious persons seldom went abroad without their broad-brim, which being furnished with a long skin thong was suffered to fall back and hang over the shoulders. If they happened to be caught by the rain when not thus provided, they threw, like Strepsiades in the Clouds, a corner of their mantle over the head. These hats were of various shapes,[[1352]] and manufactured of very different materials; sometimes square or lozenge-formed, like our college-caps: sometimes round with broad leaf[[1353]] and low basinet crown; sometimes peaked atop with rim curling all round like the bell of the Egyptian lotos. There was another modification of the hat,[[1354]] fashioned like a limpet-shell, and without a brim, chiefly worn by fishermen and poor operatives, and sometimes also by travellers.[[1355]]