DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15098#0079
61
two young men in the centre are also leaning upon staves. We
do not find a staff mentioned as a peculiar mark of office, but it
appears that upon the marble that object is limited to those
persons who are placed the nearest to the centre, about four on
each side, and who seem not to have at the moment any active
occupation, but to be waiting for the nearer approach of the
procession. The staves are not of any prescribed form or material;
some seem smooth, others rough and knotted, others are clearly
of cane. The cloathing common to all these figures, occupied
or not, consists of a pallium of rather full dimensions. This
description of garment was worn by both sexes; formed of
various materials of different degrees of fineness, and more or less
ample in its dimensions, according to the sex, taste or fancy of
the wearers, those of females being generally smaller and of finer
texture. Though it greatly resembled the toga of the Romans in
the general manner of wearing it, it was much less ample and less
dignified, but admitted of far greater variety in the arrangement
of the folds. It consisted of a long piece of cloth with the ends
occasionally rounded off, and was usually put on by placing it
across the left shoulder, passing the larger portion across the
back, then under the right arm, and throwing the end over the
left shoulder, which was thus doubly covered. The upper part
of it was generally doubled, so that sometimes a portion hung
down in front, and a large complication of folds swept down the
back, and were collected round the waist in front, and applied
to various purposes; those in front were occasionally formed
into little wells or pockets; those behind were thrown over the
head as a protection from heat, cold, or wet; and in these marbles
we see various instances of the superfluity of drapery being col-
lected into a sort of pad to protect the arm or body when
leaning upon a staff. See Plates V. VI. XXXVI. The graceful
disposition of the folds, especially round the body and over the
arm, required and displayed the taste of the wearer; while the
two young men in the centre are also leaning upon staves. We
do not find a staff mentioned as a peculiar mark of office, but it
appears that upon the marble that object is limited to those
persons who are placed the nearest to the centre, about four on
each side, and who seem not to have at the moment any active
occupation, but to be waiting for the nearer approach of the
procession. The staves are not of any prescribed form or material;
some seem smooth, others rough and knotted, others are clearly
of cane. The cloathing common to all these figures, occupied
or not, consists of a pallium of rather full dimensions. This
description of garment was worn by both sexes; formed of
various materials of different degrees of fineness, and more or less
ample in its dimensions, according to the sex, taste or fancy of
the wearers, those of females being generally smaller and of finer
texture. Though it greatly resembled the toga of the Romans in
the general manner of wearing it, it was much less ample and less
dignified, but admitted of far greater variety in the arrangement
of the folds. It consisted of a long piece of cloth with the ends
occasionally rounded off, and was usually put on by placing it
across the left shoulder, passing the larger portion across the
back, then under the right arm, and throwing the end over the
left shoulder, which was thus doubly covered. The upper part
of it was generally doubled, so that sometimes a portion hung
down in front, and a large complication of folds swept down the
back, and were collected round the waist in front, and applied
to various purposes; those in front were occasionally formed
into little wells or pockets; those behind were thrown over the
head as a protection from heat, cold, or wet; and in these marbles
we see various instances of the superfluity of drapery being col-
lected into a sort of pad to protect the arm or body when
leaning upon a staff. See Plates V. VI. XXXVI. The graceful
disposition of the folds, especially round the body and over the
arm, required and displayed the taste of the wearer; while the