=65. The Type of Roman Garments.=--How is it possible to mention Roman women and Roman weddings without thoughts also of Roman costume and personal adornment? Seldom, indeed, has there been or will there be an age in which fine wearing apparel, and jewelry, and elaborate hair dressing can occupy so great a place in the thoughts of both sexes as it does in this era of the Roman Empire. Good clothes and fine rings are in fact so important that if you do not possess them, on many social occasions you must hire them. There were several guests at Statilia’s wedding who appeared in gala robes with handsome jewels to match. With them went attendants who passed for confidential freedmen; yet it was whispered they were actually the agents of costume purveyors charged to see that every hired banqueting gown and topaz-set ring was promptly returned. Roman garments are like the Greek: they are usually _wrapped on_, they are not like those of a later age which must be _put on_. Pins, buckles, and brooches usually take the place of buttons. Sometimes, however, costumes of a different type can be met with in the cosmopolitan crowds in the fora. Occasionally are seen Persians and Parthians wearing tight-fitting leathern casings around their lower limbs, like the articles that another day will style “trousers”; and more frequently are met blond or red-headed Gauls wearing _caracallæ_, close-fitting garments with long sleeves, slit down in front and reaching to the knee.[33] Such dresses are, however, exceptional. Loose shawl-like apparel prevails in Rome just as with nearly all the classical Mediterranean peoples. [Illustration: ROMANS WEARING THE TOGA.] =66. The Toga, the National Latin Garment.=--But Roman tailors have never been servile imitators of Sparta or Athens. Long before Greek costumers became familiar visitors by the Tiber, the Latin folk had found their own national garment--the _toga_. Every true Roman is proud of the right to wear this distinctive garment, and its use is prohibited to non-Romans, however princely or wealthy. A group of ex-slaves has just come from the prætor, where their master has emancipated them--thereby making them Roman citizens. In a body they are flocking to the clothiers’ stalls whence they can emerge as arrogant _togati_--lawful members of the imperial race. An unfortunate senator has lately been condemned for malfeasance in office and sentenced to banishment. It is not the least of his penalty that he must also divest himself of his toga: it can never be worn by a degraded exile. Clients have to wear this gown _de rigueur_ when they visit their patrons in the morning--he would feel insulted if they omitted it.