IVomcn's dress showed considerable variety, both because matrons, girls, slaves, and prosti- tutes wore distinctive garments, and because
508 TKADE AND COMMERCE
TRADE AND COMMERCE
foreign women and freedwomen introduced foreign, and esperially Greek, fashions witii absolute free- dom according to their own taste. All women wore the fascia, a sort of corset, then a tunica interior {subucttla, interula), and above it the in- dusium, or tunica indusiata. It was in the char- acter of the outer dress worn above these that the difference of status was shown. The stola, the distinctive dress of the matron or lawful wife, was a tunic, reaching to the feet, with sleeves to the elbows. At its lower end it had a train or flounce, and the whole garment was girt at the waist. About it the palla could be worn, and indeed in a special way to mark the class, for it was worn dillerently by maidens and foreign women, who did not wear the stola. Married women commonly covered the head out of doors (1 Co 11).
The traders associated with clothing were (1) the providers of raw material, sucii as wool, goat's hair, flax, the purple fishers, and the mussel fishers ; (2) the dealers in raw material and the importers of foreign wares : dealers in wool, goat's hair, linen, silk, etc. ; (3) manufacturers, felt-makers, wool-carders, dyers (including dj'ers in blue, wax, sattron, brown, purple), weavers (including weavers of wool, linen, damask), fullers, emVjroiderers, gold-beaters, lace-makers, corset- makers, shirt- makers, tailors and tailoresses, and centonarii (i.e. makers of garments out of centones, or old patches) ; (4) traders in stuff's and finished garments {^testi- arii), who sometimes did business in shops, some- times by means of touts [circitores) ; their chief business was in hangings, bed-covers, etc. (uestes strafiiUa;, from sterno).
22. Skin and leather wares. — Nothing has hitlierto been said of skin or leather wares. Covering with the hides of beasts was the earliest kind of dress. In the Empire skins were used for personal wear as well as for carpets and covers. Hides were imported from the Black Sea, Cyrene, Sicily, Asia Minor, Germany, and Britain, and tanning was known in Rome from the earliest times. The method appears to have ditt'ered but little from that now in use. Before the hair was removed, the skin was prepared by the leaves of the mulberry tree soaked in wine, or by the red- fruited white bryony. Of tanning proper the four modern methods appear to have been all current : (a) by the use of pine and alder bark, pomegranate skins, and sumach leaves, gall-nuts, acorns, the roots and bei'ries of the wild vine, the fruit of the Egyptian acacia, etc. ; (b) by the use of alum and salt, which produces fine leather (aluta) ; (c) by the use of oil or chamois dressing ; and (d) by the plain method of cleaning, removing the hair, and scraping. In the colouring of leather also the ancients showed great skill. For this process they used, for instance, the bark of the lotus tree, madder, scarlet, and especially sulphate of copper (blue vitriol). Among hides used were those of sheep, goats, lambs, hysenas, roes, stags, wild sheep, wolves, martens, beavers, bears, jackals, seals, leopards, lions. Furs were not introduced into Rome till late times.
The finished leather was used by shoemakers, .saddlers, and tlie makers of jerkins, belts, gloves, tents, wineskins, etc. It was cut with various types of knife, pierced with the awl, and shaped on lasts ; the soles were made often of wood or cork, being sometimes studded with nails, and were sewn according to requirement. The use of oil to make the leather flexible and of blacking was also known. The shoemakers were divided into classes, according to the type of shoes that they sold. The prevailing type of boot among the senators had four latchets ; there was also the ordinary cakius, sold by cnlciarii, like a slipper with two upper flaps, one folded over the other and
both knotted together. For indoor use sandals {■mlem, sandalin, Ac 12'), sold by solearii, were used, but they were taken off at dinner. Among other types was the military caliga, sold by the caligarii, studded w'ith nails, but really little more than a sole, laced to the foot by a network of thongs.
23. Hairdressing and cosmeticS' — Hairdressing and cosmetics need some reference (1 P 3'). The hairdresser, wig-dealer, perfumer did much busi- ness in the great cities. The hairdressing of the richer and idler Roman women in the 1st cent, was often of so elaborate a nature that great skill and much time were required for the preparation of the wonderful structures piled upon their heads. There was also a large sale for cosmetics, includ- ing white-lead and rouge. Wigs were commonly blonde in the 1st century. The barbers' shops were centres of gossip, just as George Eliot re- presents them centuries later in Florence. The decoration of women's hair and faces was done at home by specialist slaves.
24. Goods and utensils. — The subject of goods and utensils is much too large to be treated in full detail here, but it cannot be passed by. Such manufactured goods can be distinguished as the work of workers in hard substances— stone, metal, wood, ivory, glass — or that of workers in soft sub- stances, such as clay or wax. The former are the work of the fabri, the latter of the Jigiili (Ro 9-"). Adjectives wei'e added to the term/a6»-» to indi- cate the special branch to which they belonged. Workers in timber, builders, shipwrights, carpen- ters, smiths (including silversmiths), ivory workers, etc., were aMfabri. TheJit/uH produced two classes of pottery — opus figlinum, corresponding to our porcelain, and opus doliare (from dolium, a large jar), a coarser type of work, including vessels and vases of any shape, roof-tiles, water-pipes, etc. The manufactories of these [figlince) were generally owned by capitalists.