[1998] See B. iv. c. 35.
[1999] See B. iii. c. 5. Now Pezenas.
Καὶ ῥήγεα καλὰ
Πορφύρ’ ἐμβαλέειν, στορέσαι δ’ ἐφύπερθε τάπητας.
Od. B. iv. l. 427. “And to throw on fair coverlets of purple, and to lay carpets upon them.”
[2001] These were probably much like what we call “Turkey” carpets.
[2002] The name given to this article, “lana coacta,” “compressed wool,” correctly designates its texture. The manufacturers of it were called “lanarii coactores,” and “lanarii coactiliarii.”
[2003] “I have macerated unbleached flax in vinegar saturated with salt, and after compression have obtained a felt, with a power of resistance quite comparable with that of the famous armour of Conrad of Montferrat; seeing that neither the point of a sword, nor even balls discharged from fire-arms, were able to penetrate it.” Memoir on the substance called Pilina, by Papadopoulo-Vretos, on the Mem. presented to the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, 1845, as quoted by Littré.
[2004] Pliny probably conceived that by the removal of all the grease from the wool, or the “purgamentum,” it became less combustible.—B.