which palla, however, was never worn among the Romans, as the peplum was among the Greeks, by men. This external covering, as may be observed in the statues of Roman empresses, displayed the same varieties of drapery, or throw, at Rome as at Athens."1

a

с

The simplicity of the old Roman dress was abandoned

Fig. 17.

after the seat of empire was removed to Constantinople. A greater love of ornament is visible; fringes, tassels, jewellery appear in profusion; the Spartan simplicity of the old dress was overlaid with the ornament and gay colouring of the East. The tunic, once scrupu

lously plain, or simply edged with colour, was now richly embroidered with a band of gold or rich silk (the paragauda) at the borders. It was an adoption of the barbaric splendour of the nations they subjugated. A figure of Cybele, discovered in the neighbourhood of Chesters, Northumberland, close to the great Roman wall, gives us the example of these decorated borders, engraved Fig. a 17. The deep fringes, b and c, are selected from Gaulish monuments in the south of France, and appear on tunics or the large loose cloaks or mantles. Occasionally the loose sleeves were thus enriched. The ingenuity of the provinces was taxed for the luxurious tastes which ultimately conquered the old exclusiveness of the Romans, and the peculiar manufactures of Britain, Gaul, Germania, etc., swelled their personal grandeur. At Venta tions, which varied with the taste of the wearer, prevented its falling off, as it was never secured by clasps or buttons. When very long and ample, so as to admit of being wound twice round the body, first under the arms, and a second time over the shoulders, it assumed the name of diplax.

1 I cannot close my brief quotations from this valuable book, without earnestly recommending it to the attention of all artists and others anxious to obtain information on the subject of ancient costume from the earliest period to the fall of Rome. The whole of this obscure and difficult period is descanted on, and illustrated by a large quantity of beautiful engravings, from antique monuments of all kinds.

(Winchester) was established an institution for weaving; and the curious inscription known as "the marble of Thorigny," now at St. Lo, Normandy, records the gifts sent by the imperial legate Claudius Paulinus, proprætor of the province of Britain, while he was with the sixth legion of soldiers, at York, to T. Sennius Sollemnius, in Gaul, which include a Canusian chlamys,' a Laodicean dalmatic,' a golden fibula set with stones,3 two racena, and a British tossia ("tossiam Britannicam "), believed to be a robe made of the fur of the grey squirrel. ("Col. Ant." v. iii. p. 91.) The costume of the Roman soldiers, who played so conspicuous a part

be

at this period in Britain, may obtained in all its varieties by a reference to the magnificent work of Mont

4

pliquée "), or to those describing and delineating the columns of Trajan and Antonine. Scarcely

any book on an

cient art, or any

Fig. 18.

museum, can be consulted without specimens meeting the attention. The general appearance of the foot-soldiery of their legions may be seen in our cut, copied from Roman sculptures. The first figure wears the laminated cuirass, consisting of bands of brass about three inches wide, wrapping

1 Made at Canusium, in Italy, of the wool which Pliny tells us was of a yellow tinge, and is often referred to by ancient writers as an article of luxury.

2 The wool of this district was celebrated for its fineness, like the wools of Thibet and Cashmere at present.

3 These fibulæ have been found in the graves of Saxons, Gauls, and Germans, and examples are engraved in the present volume.

This the Abbé le Beuf considers to have been a kind of overcoat.

half-round the body, and fastened upon a leathern or quilted substructure, the shoulders being also covered with similar bands; he wears a tunic barely reaching to the knees, beneath which appear the tight drawers, descending to the calf of the leg, and which were not in use by Roman soldiers before the imperial dynasty. Sometimes the tunic is covered with straps, four or five inches long, of leather or felt, and covered with small plates of metal; or a single row hangs round the body from the waist, where the cuirass ends, their shape and form allowing the freest motion. The soldier beside him has a cuirass of scale-armour, formed of long flexible bands of steel, on a substructure of leather, made to fold over each other, and allow full play to the motion of the body. The tight drawers are very clearly shown. Both wear the military sandals, called caliga,

Fig. 19.

which were set with nails or spikes underneath, for the convenience of a good foothold. A belt for a dagger or short sword is worn crossing to his right side, (such as Polybius says were worn by the hastati, the flower of the Roman infantry,') fit for either thrusting or cutting, with a strong, well-tempered blade, edged on both sides. They were short, and generally the blade was not more than twice or thrice the length of the hilt. The shields borne by these soldiers, one oval, the other angular, are good examples of those in general use.

Among the Arundelian marbles at Oxford is a basrelief, found at Ludgate, in 1669, to the memory of a British soldier of the second legion, named Vivius Marcianus: he is

So named from the hasta, or long spear, originally carried by them; but which was discontinued under the emperors.

represented with short hair, a short tunic which is fastened round the waist by a girdle and fibula, a long sagum flung over his breast and left arm; his legs are bare; in his left hand he holds the end of his belt, and in his right a long rod, which retired Roman veterans carried, the point resting on the ground. Pennant regarded this

curious bas-relief (which is in bad condition) as a representation of a British soldier, probably of the Cohors Britonum,' dressed after the manner of the country. The slight difference between his costume and that of a Roman legionary will be at once seen. Figure 20, wearing the long and capacious mantle, is copied from a Roman sepulchral basrelief found at Cirencester, in 1835.3

Fig. 20.

In the line of the walls of Severus anu Hadrian, in Northumberland and Cumberland, many basreliefs and inscriptions occur; they are in most instances in very ruinous condition; they, however, serve to show how thoroughly the Roman habit was adopted. One of these memorial stones to a Romano-British citizen, is copied on the next page. The tunic with its loose sleeves, and the ample cloak fastened on the right shoulder by a circular fibula, the bare legs, and the tout ensemble are perfectly Roman."

4

1 A body of soldiers expressly raised to defend the island from the attacks of the Scots and Picts, guard the coast from Saxon pirates, and maintain the power of the Romans within it.

2 Fig. 19 is from a careful drawing by the late E. B. Price, F.S.A., whose son, Mr. J. E. Price, F.S.A., has kindly lent it for insertion here. 3 It represents (according to the inscription) Philus, the son of Cassarus. Dr. Leemans, in his description of this monument ("Archæologia,” vol. xxvii.), presumes him to have belonged to a family of merchants, of some of whom we have Continental memorials.

4 This and the entire series of sculptures found in this most interesting district, are engraved in Dr. Bruce's volume on "The Roman Wall." The reader should consult a paper by Mr. J. E. Price, F.S.A., in the London and Middlesex Society's publications for 1880, on

"The

In the "Archæologia," vol. xxiii., is engraved a curious military relic of this early period.1 It is the exterior coating of an ancient British shield, such as the Britons fabricated after they had been induced to imitate the Roman fashions. It was held at arm's length, by a handle fitted into the groove made by the ornament, the grip being guarded by a convex boss. This shield appears to have been originally gilt; the umbo is ornamented with pieces of red cornelian fastened by brass pins; and, says Sir S. R. Meyrick, in whose

Fig. 21,

possession this curious relic once was, "it is impossible to

Fig. 22.

contemplate these artistic portions without feeling convinced that there is a mixture of British ornament with such resemblances to the elegant designs on Roman work as would be produced by a people in a less state of civilization." We engrave this unique curiosity, with the ornament beside it, on a large scale, that its peculiarity may be more distinctly seen. It was found in the bed of the river Witham, in Lincolnshire, with a bronze sword and bronze mounted scabbard.

Bastion of London Wall," in which the subject of Roman dress is very fully treated and illustrated by drawings from numerous examples found in England.

Now in the British Museum.