These passages allude to the fineness and transparency of silken webs, which in the time of Horace were worn at Rome only by prostitutes, or by those women who aimed at being as attractive and luxurious as possible in their attire. The former passage shows, that the silks manufactured in Cos were dyed with the murex, “Coæ purpuræ.” The expression “Sericos pulvillos” (_Epod._ 8. 15.) has been supposed to denote small cushions covered with silk. But the epithet “Sericos” implies nothing more than that they were obtained from the Seres, who supplied the Romans with skins as well as silk[26]; and leather seems to have been a more proper substance than silk for making cushions. [26] Plin. xxxiv. cap. 24. OVID. Sive erit in Tyriis, Tyrios laudabis amictus, Sive erit in Cois, Coa decere puta. Aurata est: ipso tibi sit pretiosior auro; Gausapa si sumsit, gausapa sumta proba. _Ars Amat._ ii. 297-300. Whatever clothing she displays, From Tyre or Cos, that clothing praise: If gold shows forth the artist’s skill, Call her than gold more precious still: Or if she choose a coarse attire, E’en coarseness, worn by her, admire. In another passage (_Amores_ i. 14. 5.) Ovid compares the thin hairs of a lady to the silken veils of the Seres, Veils such as color’d Seres wear. We now proceed to the testimonies of authors who wrote either in Greek or Latin at the latter part of the Augustan age, or immediately after it. DYONISIUS PERIEGETES. Καὶ ἔθνεα βάρβαρα Σηρῶν, Οἵτε βοὰς μὲν ἀναίνονται καὶ ἴφια μῆλα, Αἰόλα δὲ ξαίνοντες ἐρήμης ἄνθεα γαίης, Εἵματα τεύχουσιν πολυδαίδαλα, τιμήεντα, Εἰδόμενα χροιῇ λειμωνίδος ἄνθεσι ποίης· Κείνοις οὔτι κεν ἔργον ἀραχνάων ἐρίσειεν. (_l._ 755.) And the barbarous nations of the Seres, who renounce the care of sheep and oxen, but comb the variously colored flowers of the desert land to make precious figured garments, resembling in color the flowers of the meadow, and rivalling (in fineness) the work of spiders.--Yates’s Translation. It is worthy of observation that Dyonisius speaks expressly not only of the fineness of the thread, but of the _flowered texture_ of the silk. STRABO. Τοιαῦτα δὲ καὶ τὰ Σηρικὰ, ἔκ τι νων φλοιῶν ξαινομένης βύσσου. L. xv. 695. (v. vi. p. 40. _Tzschucke._) This is repeated by Eustathius on Dyonisius Periegetes[27]. The account seems to have been taken by Strabo, perhaps inaccurately, from Nearchus. It is doubtful, whether Σηρικὰ denoted silken webs in this passage. But whatever Strabo meant, he supposed the raw material to be scraped from the bark of trees[28]. [27] L. 1107. p. 308, Bernhardy. [28] Book ii. ch. 3. p. 307.