Wilton, Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton; Wilton, Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton [Hrsg.]: The art of needle-work from the earliest ages: including some notices of the ancient historical tapestries (London: Henry Colburn Publishers, 1841)

48 NEEDLEWORK OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.
gold thread as we referred to in a prior chapter, as
consisting of the metal alone beaten out and
rounded, without any intermixture of silk or woollen.
Tarquinius Prisons had also a vest of this gorgeous
description, as had likewise Agrippina. Goldthread
and wire continued to be made entirely of metal
probably until the time of Aurelian, nor have
there been any instances found in Herculaneum
and Pompeii of the silken thread with a gold
coating.
These examples will suffice to show that it was
not usually the material of the ancient garments
which gave them so high a value, but the orna-
mental embellishments with which they were after-
wards invested by the needle.
The Medes and Babylonians seem to have been
most highly celebrated for their stuffs and tapestries
of various sorts which were figured by the needle ;
the Egyptians certainly rivalled, though they did not
surpass them ; and the Greeks seem also to have
attained a high degree of excellence in this pretty
art. The epoch of embroidery amongst the Romans
went as far back as Tarquin, to whom the Etrus-
cans presented a tunic of purple enriched with gold,
and a mantle of purple and other colours, “ tels
qu’en portoient les rois de Perse et de Lydie.”
But soon luxury banished the wonted austerity of
Rome ; and when Caesar first showed himself in a
habit embroidered and fringed, this innovation
appeared scandalous to those who had not been
alarmed at any of his real and important inno-
vations.
We have referred in a former chapter to the