They blush to be call’d men: they seek to shine In ev’ry vainest garb. Their native strength To soften and impair, they gaily choose A flowing scarf, not made of wool from sheep, But of those fleeces from the Eastern world, The spoil of trees. Their hardy frame they deck All o’er with tesselated spots: and art Is added, that the threads, twice dyed with herbs, May sportively intwine their various hues And mimic forms, within the yielding warp. Whatever creature wears the softest down, They comb its fleece. This man with headlong course Hunts motley tunics which inflame desire, _Invents new looms_, and weaves a feather’d vest, Which with the plumage of the birds compares: That, scented with cosmetics, basely sheds Effeminate foreign powder all around. PALLADIUS. A work remains under the name of Palladius on “The Nations of India and the Brachmans.” Whether it is by the same Palladius, who wrote the Historia Lausiaca, is disputed. But, as we see no reason to doubt, that it may have been written as early as his time, we introduce here the passages, which have been found in it, relating to the present subject. The author represents the Bramins as saying to Alexander the Great, “You envelope yourselves in soft clothing, like the silk-worms.” (_p._ 17. _ed. Bissœi._) It is also asserted, that Alexander did not pass the Ganges, but went as far as Serica, where the silk-worms produce raw-silk (p. 2.). In the London edition this tract is followed by one in Latin, bearing the name of St. Ambrose and entitled DE MORIBUS BRACHMANORUM. It contains nearly the same matter with the preceding. The writer professes to have obtained his information from “Musæus Dolenorum Episcopus,” meaning, as it appears from the Greek tract, Moses, Bishop of Adule, of whom he says, Sericam ferè universam regionem peragravit: in quâ refert arbores esse, quæ non solum folia, sed lanam quoque proferunt tenuissimam, ex quâ vestimenta con ficiuntur, quæ Serica nuncupantur. _p._ 58. He travelled through nearly all the country of the Seres, in which, he says, that there are trees producing not only leaves, but the finest wool, from which are made the garments called Serica. These notices are not devoid of value as indicating what were the first steps to intercourse with the original silk country. It may however be doubted, whether the last account here quoted is a modification of the ideas previously current among the Greeks and Romans, or whether it arose from the mistakes of Moses himself, or of other Christian travellers into the interior of Asia, _who confounded the production of silk with that of cotton_. THE THEODOSIAN CODE, published A. D. 438, mentions silk (_sericam et metaxam_) in various passages. APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS, CL., A. D. 472. Describing the products of different countries, this learned author says (_Carmen._ v. _l._ 42-50),