Testimony of the Latin Poets of the Augustan age--Tibullus--Propertius--Virgil--Horace--Ovid--Dyonisius Perigetes--Strabo. Mention of silk by authors in the first century--Seneca the Philosopher--Seneca the Tragedian--Lucan--Pliny--Josephus--Saint John--Silius Italicus--Statius--Plutarch--Juvenal--Martial--Pausanias--Galen--Clemens Alexandrinus--Caution to Christian converts against the use of silk in dress. Mention of silk by authors in the second century--Tertullian--Apuleius--Ulpian--Julius Pollux--Justin. Mention of silk by authors in the third century--Ælius Lampidius--Vopiscus--Trebellius Pollio--Cyprian--Solinus--Ammianus Marcellinus--Use of silk by the Roman emperors--Extraordinary beauty of the textures--Use of water to detach silk from the trees--Invectives of these authors against extravagance in dress--The Seres described as a happy people--Their mode of traffic, etc.--(Macpherson’s opinion of the Chinese.)--City of Dioscurias, its vast commerce in former times.--(Colonel Syke’s account of the Kolissura silk-worm--Dr. Roxburgh’s description of the Tusseh silk-worm.) The next Authors, who make mention of silk, are the Latin poets of the Augustan age, Tibullus and Propertius, Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. The Parthian war, and the increased intercourse between the Roman empire and the kingdoms of the East, had been the means of recently introducing every kind of silken goods into more general use, although these manufactures were still so rare as to be the objects of curiosity and admiration, and were therefore well adapted to be brought in among the embellishments of poetical imagery. The appearance of the silken flags attached to the gilt standards of the Parthians (Florus iii. 11.) must have been a very striking sight for the army of Crassus, contributing both to inflame their cupidity and to alarm them with a sense of the power of their opponents. The conflict here referred to took place in the year 54 B. C. In about 30 years after this date the Roman empire obtained its greatest extension. In the language of Petronius Arbiter (c. 119.), Th’ insatiate Roman spread his conquering arms O’er land and sea, where’er heaven’s light extends. After these words he says, that among the richest productions of distant climates the Seres sent their “new fleeces.” The remotest countries thus contributed to increase the luxury of Rome, and we shall now see how silk, one of the most costly and the most admired of its recent acquisitions, was used by its poets to represent the polish of elevated life and to adorn their language with rich and beautiful allusions. The webs, which they mention, are either those still obtained from Cos, or those imported from the country of the Seres. TIBULLUS. A Coan vest for girls. L. ii. 4.