They wear white under-garments to which adheres a covering, which is at
once coat and legging, without wrinkles. The borders of the fastenings
are furnished with globular buttons, extended round and caught up here
and there by chains. The coverings of the legs descend to the shoes and
are continued even to the heels. Then they cover the feet with large
socks, or, as it were, half-buskins fastened by buckles, over which they
wear a half-boot, and besides, as I have already said, they are clothed
with a toga. And so aptly fitting are the garments, that when the toga
is destroyed, the different parts of the whole body are straightway
discerned, no part being concealed. They change their clothes for
different ones four times in the year, that is when the sun enters
respectively the constellations Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn, and
according to the circumstances and necessity as decided by the officer
of health. The keepers of clothes for the different rings are wont to
distribute them, and it is marvellous that they have at the same time
as many garments as there is need for, some heavy and some slight,
according to the weather. They all use white clothing, and this is
washed in each month with lye or soap, as are also the workshops of the
lower trades, the kitchens, the pantries the barns, the store-houses,
the armories, the refectories, and the baths.
Moreover, the clothes are washed at the pillars of the peristyles, and
the water is brought down by means of canals which are continued as
sewers. In every street of the different rings there are suitable
fountains, which send forth their water by means of canals, the water
being drawn up from nearly the bottom of the mountain by the sole
movement of a cleverly contrived handle. There is water in fountains
and in cisterns, whither the rain-water collected from the roofs of the
houses is brought through pipes full of sand. They wash their bodies
often, according as the doctor and master command. All the mechanical
arts are practised under the peristyles, but the speculative are carried
on above in the walking galleries and ramparts where are the more
splendid paintings, but the more sacred ones are taught in the temple.
In the halls and wings of the rings there are solar time-pieces and
bells, and hands by which the hours and seasons are marked off.
G.M. Tell me about their children.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account