Her luxury was not limited to ornaments only, to necklaces, bracelets, rings, or waist-bands of metal; she borrowed her charms from Nature too, and, as we have seen, had little reason to complain. Bracelets, which still held their place under the Merovingians, do not seem to have been worn in the Middle Ages. In the south, on the shores of the Mediterranean, the women were strikingly beautiful. They wore a quantity of jewels, a short garment reaching only to the knees, and a gorgeously bright red apron, such as is worn by the Neapolitans to this day. At Marseilles the civilization of the Greeks had spread among the people. The young girls of the city were always dressed with elegance, and, doubtless lest drink might impair the ivory white of their complexion, custom forbade them to partake of wine; also in order to guard against an excess of luxury, the law required that the highest marriage-portion of a woman should not exceed one hundred golden crowns, nor her finest ornaments five hundred crowns. And that arbitrary law seems to have been strictly enforced. After the conquest of Gaul by Cæsar, Roman civilization and Roman corruption were introduced into our country. It is difficult to resist the attractions of beautiful things, and however great may have been the hatred of their husbands towards the conquerors, the Gallic women, now become Gallo-Romans, were very ready, as may easily be imagined, to follow the example of the ladies from Italy. They declined to be beaten in the art of pleasing, as their warriors had been vanquished on the battle-field. The fair Gallo-Roman adopted the fashions of Rome. Extravagance in dress became boundless, and dissimilarity of garments denoted various degrees of wealth. The “stola,” a tunic reaching to the ground, and gathered by a girdle round the hips, while a band adjusted it to the bosom, allowed only the tips of the feet to be seen. It fell in numerous rich folds, and was as characteristic of the matron as was the “toga” of a citizen of Rome. One lady might be satisfied with a chemise, with the wide drapery of the tunic scolloped at the edge, a short apron and sandals; while another would load herself with tunics, the upper one being sleeveless, sometimes embroidered and sometimes not, confined by a band round the waist, and by a clasp on either shoulder. A sort of mantilla veiled the entire figure. Some few ladies chose to wear garments which on account of their great breadth were called “palissades” by Horace, the satirical poet of the Augustan age. From these the first idea of those vertugadins and crinolines, which we shall frequently be called upon to notice in the course of the present history, appears to have been derived.