Bætis, with wreaths of unctuous olive crown’d, For Bacchus’ and for Pallas’ gifts renown’d; Whose waters clear a golden hue impart To fleeces, that require no further art; Such wealth the Ruler of the waves conveys In ships, that mark with foam thy liquid ways. xii. 99. Lacernas from Bætica. My wool disdains a lye, or caldron hue. Poor Tyre may take it: me my sheep imbue. xiv. 133.--_Elphinston’s Translation._ Charming Ero’s golden lock Beat the fleece of Bætic flock. v. 37. See § 21.--Ib. Bætic fleeces, many a pound. xii. 65. l. 5. Let him commend the sober native hues; Of Bætic drab, or gray, lacernas choose, Who thinks no man in scarlet should appear, And only women pink or purple wear. i. 97. The numerous passages, which have now been produced relative to the native colors of the Spanish wool, explain the following line of Virgil, in which he describes the clothing of a warrior; With broider’d chlamys bright, and Spanish rust. Æn. ix. 582. The poet probably intended to describe an outer garment, a chlamys, made of undyed Spanish wool of a clear brown or yellowish color, resembling that of rust; and afterwards enriched with embroidery. Ramirez de Prado, the Spanish commentator on Martial (_4to. Paris_, 1607.), says, that two native colors were common in Spain in his time, the one a golden yellow, the other more brown or ferruginous. In the North of Spain the Celtiberi wore saga made of a coarse wool like goats’-hair (_Diod. Sic._ v. 33. _tom._ i. _p._ 356. _Wesseling_.), and woven _double_ according to Appian[362]. [362] Appiani Hist. Rom. l. vi. de Rebus Hispan., vol. i. p. 151. ed. Schweighäuser. At Salacia in Lusitania, according to Pliny, a chequered pattern was employed in the manufacture of the coarse wool. This was in all probability the same as the shepherd’s plaid of the Scotch, the weaver taking advantage of the natural difference of the white and black wool to produce this variety of appearance. (See Appendix A.) Estremadura, a part of the ancient Bætica, is still famous for its wool. There the Spanish flocks hybernate, and under the direction of a peculiar code of laws, called _La Mesta_, are conducted every spring to pasture in the mountains of Leon and Asturias. Other flocks are led in the same season from great distances to the heights of the Sierra Morena, lying to the east of the ancient Bætica, where the vegetation is remarkably favorable to the improvement of their wool. As bearing directly upon the present inquiry it may be observed, that sheep have always been bred principally for the weaver, not for the butcher, and that this has been more especially the case in ancient times and in eastern countries.