The Private Life of the Romans Part 10

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 89. THE PAENULA]

--248. The Paenula.--Older than the _lacerna_ and used by all sorts and conditions of men was the _paenula_ (Fig. 89), a heavy coa.r.s.e wrap of wool, leather, or fur, used merely for protection against rain or cold, and therefore never a subst.i.tute for the toga or made of fine materials or bright colors. It seems to have varied in length and fullness, but to have been a sleeveless wrap, made in one piece with a hole in the middle, through which the wearer thrust his head. It was, therefore, cla.s.sed with the _vestimenta clausa_, or closed garments, and must have been much like the modern poncho. It was drawn on over the head, like a tunic or sweater, and covered the arms, leaving them much less freedom than the _lacerna_ did. In those of some length there was a slit in front running from the waist down, and this enabled the wearer to hitch the cloak up over one shoulder, leaving one arm comparatively free, but at the same time exposing it to the weather. It was worn over either tunic or toga according to circ.u.mstances, and was the ordinary traveling habit of citizens of the better cla.s.s. It was also commonly worn by slaves, and seems to have been furnished regularly to soldiers stationed in places where the climate was severe. Like the _lacerna_ it was sometimes supplied with a hood.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 90. SOLDIER WEARING THE ABOLLA]

--249. Other Wraps.--Of other articles included under the general term _amictus_ we know little more than the names. The _synthesis_ was a dinner dress worn at table over the tunic by the ultrafashionable, and sometimes dignified by the special name of _vestis cenatoria_, or _cenatorium_ alone. It was not worn out of the house except on the Saturnalia, and was usually of some bright color. Its shape is unknown. The _laena_ and _abolla_ were very heavy woolen cloaks, the latter (Fig. 90) being a favorite with poor people who had to make one garment do duty for two or three. It was used especially by professional philosophers, who were proverbially careless about their dress. One is thought to be worn by the man on the extreme left, in the picture of a school shown in --119. The _endormis_ was something like the modern bath robe, used by men after violent gymnastic exercise to keep from taking cold, and hardly belongs under the head of dress.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 91. SOLEAE]

--250. Footgear: the Soleae.--It may be set down as a rule that freemen did not appear in public at Rome with bare feet, except as nowadays under the compulsion of the direst poverty. Two styles of footwear were in use, slippers or sandals (_soleae_) and shoes (_calcei_). The slipper consisted essentially of a sole of leather or matting attached to the foot in various ways (see the several styles in Fig. 91).

Custom limited its use to the house and it went characteristically with the tunic (--237), when that was not covered by an outer garment.

Oddly enough, it seems to us, the slippers were not worn at meals.

Host and guests wore them into the dining-room, but as soon as they had taken their places on the couches (--224) slaves removed the slippers from their feet and cared for them until the meal was over (--152). Hence the phrase _soleas poscere_ came to mean "to prepare to take leave." When a guest went out to dinner in a _lectica_ (--151) he wore the _soleae_, but if he walked he wore the regular out-door shoes (_calcei_) and had his slippers carried by a slave.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 92. ROMAN SHOES]

--251. The Calcei.--Out of doors the _calceus_ was always worn, although it was much heavier and less comfortable than the _solea_.

Good form forbade the toga to be worn without the _calcei_, and they were worn also with all the other garments included under the word _amictus_. The _calceus_ was essentially our shoe, made on a last of leather, covering the upper part of the foot as well as protecting the sole, fastened with laces or straps. The higher cla.s.ses had shoes peculiar to their rank. The shoe for senators is best known to us (_calceus senatorius_), and is shown in Fig. 92; but we know only its shape, not its color. It had a thick sole, was open on the inside at the ankle, and was fastened by wide straps which ran from the juncture of the sole and the upper, were wrapped around the leg and tied above the instep. The _mulleus_ or _calceus patricius_ was worn originally by patricians only, but later by all curule magistrates. It was shaped like the senator's shoe, was red in color like the fish from which it was named, and had an ivory or silver ornament of crescent shape (_lunula_) fastened on the outside of the ankle. We know nothing of the shoe worn by the knights. Ordinary citizens wore shoes that opened in front and were fastened by a strap of leather running from one side of the shoe near the top. They did not come up so high on the leg as those of the senators and were probably of uncolored leather. The poorer cla.s.ses naturally wore shoes of coa.r.s.er material, often of untanned leather (_perones_), and laborers and soldiers had half-boots (_caligae_) of the stoutest possible make, or wore wooden shoes. No stockings were worn by the Romans, but persons with tender feet might wrap them with _fasciae_ (--239) to keep the shoes and boots from chafing them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 93. THE CAUSIA]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 94. THE PETASUS]

--252. Coverings for the Head.--Men of the upper cla.s.ses in Rome had ordinarily no covering for the head. When they went out in bad weather they protected themselves, of course, with the _lacerna_ and _paenula_, and these, as we have seen (----247, 248), were provided with hoods (_cuculli_). If they were caught without wraps in a sudden shower they made shift as best they could by pulling the toga up over the head, cf. Fig. 88 in --245. Persons of lower standing, especially workmen who were out of doors all day, wore a conical felt cap called the _pilleus_, see the ill.u.s.tration in --175. It is probable that this was a survival of what had been in prehistoric times an essential part of the Roman dress, for it was preserved among the insignia of the oldest priesthoods, the Pontifices, Flamines, and Salii, and figured in the ceremony of manumission. Out of the city, that is, while traveling or while in the country, the upper cla.s.ses, too, protected the head, especially against the sun, with a broad-brimmed felt hat of foreign origin, the _causia_ or _petasus_. They are shown in Figs. 93 and 94. They were worn in the city also by the old and feeble, and in later times by all cla.s.ses in the theaters. In the house, of course, the head was left uncovered.

--253. The Hair and Beard.--The Romans in early times wore long hair and full beards, as did all uncivilized peoples. Varro tells us that professional barbers came first to Rome in the year 300 B.C., but we know that the razor and shears were used by the Romans long before history begins. Pliny says that the younger Scipio (129 B.C.) was the first of the Romans to shave every day, and the story may be true.

People of wealth and position had the hair and beard kept in order at home by their own slaves (--150), and these slaves, if skillful barbers, brought high prices in the market. People of the middle cla.s.s went to public barber shops, and made them gradually places of general resort for the idle and the gossiping. But in all periods the hair and beard were allowed to grow as a sign of sorrow, and were the regular accompaniments of the mourning garb already mentioned (--246). The very poor, too, went usually unshaven and unshorn, simply because this was the cheap and easy fashion.

--254. Styles varied with the years of the persons concerned. The hair of children, boys and girls alike, was allowed to grow long and hang around the neck and shoulders. When the boy a.s.sumed the toga of manhood the long locks were cut off, sometimes with a good deal of formality, and under the Empire they were often made an offering to some deity. In the cla.s.sical period young men seem to have worn close clipped beards; at least Cicero jeers at those who followed Catiline for wearing full beards, and on the other hand declares that their companions who could show no signs of beard on their faces were worse than effeminate. Men of maturity wore the hair cut short and the face shaved clean. Most of the portraits that have come down to us show beardless men until well into the second century of our era, but after the time of Hadrian (117-138 A.D.) the full beard became fashionable.

Figs. 2 to 11, ----28-74, are arranged chronologically and will serve to show the changes in styles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 95. SEAL RINGS]

--255. Jewelry.--The ring was the only article of jewelry worn by a Roman citizen after he reached the age of manhood (--99), and good taste limited him to a single ring. It was originally of iron, and though often set with a precious stone and made still more valuable by the artistic cutting of the stone, it was always worn more for use than ornament. The ring was in fact in almost all cases a seal ring, having some device upon it (Fig. 95) which the wearer imprinted in melted wax when he wished to acknowledge some doc.u.ment as his own, or to secure cabinets and coffers against prying curiosity. The iron ring was worn generally until late in the Empire, even after the gold ring had ceased to be the special privilege of the knights and had become merely the badge of freedom. Even the engagement ring (--71) was usually of iron, the setting giving it its material value, although we are told that this particular ring was often the first article of gold that the young girl possessed.

--256. Of course there were not wanting men as ready to violate the canons of taste in the matter of rings as in the choice of their garments or the style of wearing the hair and beard. We need not be surprised, then, to read of one having sixteen rings, or of another having six for each finger. One of Martial's acquaintances had a ring so large that the poet advised him to wear it on his leg, and Juvenal tells us of an upstart who wore light rings in the summer and heavy rings in the winter. It is a more surprising fact that the ring was worn on the joint, not pressed down as far as possible on the finger, as we wear them now. If two were worn on the same finger they were worn on separate joints, not touching each other. This fashion must have seriously interfered with the movement of the finger.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 96. THE MAMILLARE]

--257. Dress of Women.--It has been remarked already (--234) that the dress of men and women differed less in ancient than in modern times, and we shall find that in the cla.s.sical period at least the princ.i.p.al articles worn were practically the same, however much they differed in name and probably in the fineness of their materials. At this period the dress of the matron consisted in general of three articles: the _tunica interior_, the _tunica exterior_ or _stola_, and the _palla_.

Beneath the _tunica interior_ there was nothing like the modern corset-waist or corset, intended to modify the figure, but a band of soft leather (_mamillare_) was sometimes pa.s.sed around the body under the b.r.e.a.s.t.s for a support (Fig. 96), and the _subligaculum_ (--235) was also worn by women.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 97. THE STROPHIUM]

--258. The Tunica Interior.--The _tunica interior_ did not differ much in material or shape from the tunic for men already described (--236).

It fitted the figure more closely perhaps than the man's, was sometimes supplied with sleeves, and as it reached only to the knee did not require a belt to keep it from interfering with the free use of the limbs. A soft sash-like band of leather (_strophium_), however, was sometimes worn over it, close under the b.r.e.a.s.t.s, but merely to support them, and in this case we may suppose that the _mamillare_ was discarded. For this sash (Fig. 97) the more general terms _zona_ and _cingulum_ are sometimes used. This tunic was not usually worn alone, even in the house, except by young girls.

--259. The Stola.--Over the _tunica interior_ was worn the _tunica exterior_, or _stola_, the distinctive dress of the Roman matron (--91). It differed in several respects from the tunic worn as a house-dress by men. It was open at both sides above the waist and fastened on the shoulders by brooches. It was much longer, reaching to the feet when ungirded and having in addition a wide border or flounce (_inst.i.ta_) sewed to the lower hem. There was also a border around the neck, which seems to have been usually of purple. The _stola_ was sleeveless if the _tunica interior_ had sleeves, but if the tunic itself was sleeveless the _stola_ had them, so that the arm was always protected. These sleeves, however, whether in tunic or _stola_, were open on the front of the upper arm and only loosely clasped with brooches or b.u.t.tons, often of great beauty and value.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 98. THE ZONA]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 99. STATUE OF THE YOUNGER FAUSTINA]

--260. Owing to its great length the _stola_ was always worn with a girdle (_zona_) above the hips (Fig. 98), and through it the _stola_ itself was pulled until the lower edge of the _inst.i.ta_ barely cleared the floor. This gave the fullness about the waist seen in the statue of Faustina (Fig. 99), in which the cut of the sleeves can also be seen. The _zona_ was usually entirely hidden by the overhanging folds.

The _stola_ was the distinctive dress of the matron, as has been said, and it is probable that the _inst.i.ta_ was its distinguishing feature; that is, the _tunica exterior_ of the unmarried woman had no flounce or border, though it probably reached to the floor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 100. STATUE FROM HERCULANEUM]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 101. STATUE OF LIVIA]

--261. The Palla.--The _palla_ was a shawl-like wrap for use out of doors. It was a rectangular piece of woolen goods, as simple as possible in its form, but worn in the most diverse fashions in different times. In the cla.s.sical period it seems to have been wrapped around the figure, much as the toga was. One-third was thrown over the left shoulder from behind and allowed to fall to the feet. The rest was carried around the back and brought forward either over or under the right arm at the pleasure of the wearer. The end was then thrown back over the left shoulder after the style of the toga, as in the marble statue from Herculaneum shown in Fig. 100, or allowed to hang loosely over the left arm, as in the statue of Livia (Fig. 101). It was possible also to pull the _palla_ up over the head, and this method of using it is supposed by some scholars to be shown in the statue of Livia, while others see in the covering of the head some sort of a veil.

--262. Shoes and Slippers.--What has been said of the footgear of men (----250, 251) applies also to that of women. Slippers (_soleae_) were worn in the house, differing from those of men only in being embellished as much as possible, sometimes even with pearls. An idea of their appearance may be had from the statue of Faustina (--259).

Shoes (_calcei_) were insisted upon for out-door use, and differed from those of men, as they chiefly differ from them now, in being made of finer and softer leather. They were often white, or gilded, or of bright colors, and those intended for winter wear had sometimes cork soles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 102. STYLES OF DRESSING THE HAIR]

--263. Dressing of the Hair.--The Roman woman regularly wore no hat, but covered the head when necessary with the _stola_ or with a veil.

Much attention was given to the arrangement of the hair, the fashions being as numerous and as inconstant as they are to-day. For young girls the favorite arrangement, perhaps, was to comb the hair back and gather it into a knot (_nodus_) on the back of the neck. For matrons it will be sufficient to call attention to the figures already given (----77, 259, 261), and to show from statues five styles (Fig. 102) worn at different times under the Empire, all belonging to ladies of the court.

--264. For keeping the hair in position pins were used of ivory, silver, and gold, often mounted with jewels. Nets (_reticula_) and ribbons (_vittae_, _taeniae_, _fasciolae_) were also worn, but combs were not made a part of the head-dress. The Roman woman of fashion did not scruple to color her hair, the golden-red color of the Greek hair being especially admired, or to use false hair, which had become an article of commercial importance early in the Empire. Mention should also be made of the garlands (_coronae_) of flowers, or of flowers and foliage, and of the coronets of pearls and other precious stones that were used to supplement the natural or artificial beauty of the hair.

These are ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 102 above.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 103. TOILET ARTICLES]

--265. The woman's hairdresser was a female slave (--150), and Juvenal tells us that she suffered cruelly from the impatience of her mistress (--158), who found the long hairpins shown in the figure a convenient instrument of punishment, The _ornatrix_ was an adept in all the tricks of the toilet already mentioned, and besides used all sorts of unguents, oils, and tonics to make the hair soft and l.u.s.trous and to cause it to grow abundantly. In Fig. 103 are shown a number of common toilet articles: _a_, _b_, _c_, _h_, _i_, and _k_ are hairpins, _d_ and _g_ are hand mirrors made of highly polished metal, _f_ is a comb, and _e_ a box for pomatum or powder.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 104. THE PARASOL]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 105. FANS (See also Figure 73, --226)]

--266. Accessories.--The parasol (_umbraculum_, _umbella_) was commonly used by women at Rome at least as early as the close of the Republic, and was all the more necessary because they wore no hats or bonnets.

The parasols were usually carried for them by attendants (--151). From vase paintings we learn that they were much like our own in shape (Fig. 104, see also Smith and Harper, s.v.; Baumeister, p. 1684; Schreiber XCV, 9), and could be closed when not in use. The fan (_flabellum_) was used from the earliest times and was made in various ways (Fig. 105); sometimes of wings of birds, sometimes of thin sheets of wood attached to a handle, sometimes of peac.o.c.k's feathers artistically arranged, sometimes of linen stretched over a frame.

These fans were not used by the woman herself, being always handled by an attendant who was charged with the task of keeping her cool and untroubled by flies (see Fig. 73 in --226). Handkerchiefs (_sudaria_), the finest made of linen, were used by both s.e.xes, but only for wiping the perspiration from the face or hands. For keeping the palms cool and dry ladies seem also to have used gla.s.s b.a.l.l.s, or b.a.l.l.s of amber, the latter, perhaps, for the fragrance also.

--267. Jewelry.--The Roman woman was pa.s.sionately fond of jewelry, and incalculable sums were spent upon the adornment of her person. Rings, brooches, pins, jeweled b.u.t.tons, and coronets have been mentioned already, and besides these bracelets, necklaces, and ear-rings or pendants were worn from the earliest times by all who could afford them. Not only were they made of costly materials, but their value was also enhanced by the artistic workmanship that was lavished upon them.

Almost all the precious stones that are known to us were familiar to the Romans and were to be found in the jewel-casket (--230) of the wealthy lady. The pearl, however, seems to have been in all times the favorite. No adequate description of these articles can be given here; no ill.u.s.trations can do them justice. It will have to suffice that Suetonius says that Caesar paid six million sesterces (nearly $300,000) for a single pearl, which he gave to Servilia, the mother of Marcus Brutus, and that Lollia Paulina, the wife of the Emperor Caligula, possessed a single set of pearls and emeralds which is said by Pliny the elder to have been valued at forty million sesterces (nearly $2,000,000).

--268. Dress of Children and Slaves.--The picture from Herculaneum (--119) shows that schoolboys wore the _subligaculum_ and _tunica_, and it is probable that no other articles of clothing were worn by either boys or girls of the poorer cla.s.ses. Besides these, children of well-to-do parents wore the _toga praetexta_ (--246), which the girl laid aside on the eve of her marriage (--76) and the boy when he reached the age of manhood (--127). Slaves were furnished a tunic, wooden shoes, and in stormy weather a cloak, probably the _paenula_ (--248). This must have been the ordinary garb of the poorer citizens of the working cla.s.ses, for they would have had little use for the toga, at least in later times, and could hardly have afforded so expensive a garment.

--269. Materials.--Fabrics of wool, linen, cotton, and silk were used by the Romans. For clothes woolen goods were the first to be used, and naturally so, for the early inhabitants of Latium were shepherds, and woolen garments best suited the climate. Under the Republic wool was almost exclusively used for the garments of both men and women, as we have seen, though the _subligaculum_ was frequently, and the woman's tunic sometimes, made of linen. The best native wools came from Calabria and Apulia, that from near Tarentum being the best of all.

Native wools did not suffice, however, to meet the great demand, and large quant.i.ties were imported. Linen goods were early manufactured in Italy, but were used chiefly for other purposes than clothing until in the Empire, and only in the third century of our era did men begin to make general use of them. The finest linen came from Egypt, and was as soft and transparent as silk. Little is positively known about the use of cotton, because the word _carbasus_, the genuine Indian name for it, was used by the Romans for linen goods also and when we meet the word we can not always be sure of the material meant. Silk, imported from China directly or indirectly, was first used for garments under Tiberius, and then only in a mixture of linen and silk (_vestes sericae_). These were forbidden for the use of men in his reign, but the law was powerless against the love of luxury. Garments of pure silk were first used in the third century.

--270. Colors.--White was the prevailing color of all articles of dress throughout the Republic, in most cases the natural color of the wool, as we have seen (--246). The lower cla.s.ses, however, selected for their garments shades that required cleansing less frequently, and found them, too, in the undyed wool. From Ca.n.u.sium came a brown wool with a tinge of red, from Baetica in Spain a light yellow, from Mutina a gray or a gray mixed with white, from Pollentia in Liguria the dark gray (_pulla_) used, as has been said (--246), for public mourning. Other shades from red to deep black were furnished by foreign wools. Almost the only artificial color used for garments under the Republic was purple, which seems to have varied from what we call crimson, made from the native trumpet-sh.e.l.l (_bucinum_ or _murex_), to the true Tyrian purple. The former was brilliant and cheap, but liable to fade.

Mixed with the dark _purpura_ in different proportions, it furnished a variety of permanent tints. One of the most popular of these tints, violet, made the wool cost some $20 a pound, while the genuine Tyrian cost at least ten times as much. Probably the stripes worn by the knights and senators on the tunics and togas were much nearer our crimson than purple. Under the Empire the garments worn by women were dyed in various colors, and so, too, perhaps, the fancier articles worn by men, such as the _lacerna_ (--247) and the _synthesis_ (--249).

The _trabea_ of the augurs seems to have been striped with scarlet and purple, the _paludamentum_ of the general to have been at different times white, scarlet, and purple, and the robe of the _triumphator_ purple.

--271. Manufacture.--In the old days the wool was spun at home by the maidservants working under the eye of the mistress (--199), and woven into cloth on the family loom, and this was kept up throughout the Republic by some of the proudest families. Augustus wore these home-made garments. By the end of the Republic, however, this was no longer general, and while much of the native wool was worked up on the farms by the slaves directed by the _vilica_ (--148), cloth of any desired quality could be bought in the open market. It was formerly supposed that the garments came from the loom ready to wear, but this is now known to have been incorrect. We have seen that the tunic was made of two separate pieces sewed together (--236), that the toga had probably to be fitted as carefully as a modern coat (--243), and that even the coa.r.s.e _paenula_ (--248) could not have been woven or knitted in one piece. But ready-made garments were on sale in the towns as early as the time of Cato, though perhaps of the cheaper qualities only, and in the Empire the trade reached large proportions. It is remarkable that with the vast numbers of slaves in the _familia urbana_ (--149 f.) it never became usual to have soiled garments cleansed at home. All garments showing traces of use were sent by the well-to-do to the fullers (_fullones_) to be washed (Fig. 106), whitened (or re-dyed), and pressed. The fact that almost all were of woolen materials made skill and care all the more necessary.