But if in some of these branches of the useful arts the Greeks approached, and, perhaps, equalled, the moderns, in another they probably excelled them; I mean in dyeing,[1360] more particularly, that deep crimson, or purple, of which Greek and Roman authors so often speak with an admiration bordering on rapture. Winkelmann[1361] is not far wrong in supposing there were two kinds of purple, the one containing a tinge of violet, or sea-blue, produced at Tarentum,[1362] the other resembling our lake, known in antiquity as Tyrian dye. On the origin of this colour the ancients had many legends (for they loved to build a mythos on what they could not explain), from among which we shall select the most poetical. The Tyrian Heracles loved, they say, a nymph, who dwelt somewhere about the sea-coast, and her name, it is added, was Tyros. In visiting this young lady, Heracles, according to the custom of the heroic age, was accompanied by his dog, as we find Telemachos, in the Odyssey. This same dog, not having love to support him, grew hungry by the way, and espying a purple fish upon a rock, with its head protruding from the shell, he seized, and devoured it. On Heracles reaching the residence of the nymph, she observed the muzzle of the animal dyed of a bright purple, and, in the style of a froward beauty, declared she would never again see her lover until he brought her a dress of that colour. Now this hero, as all the world knows, or may learn from the comic poets, was always more remarkable for courage and gluttony than for invention. Love, however, on the present occasion, sharpened his wits. He discovered the fish, turned dyer, and, having produced such an article as the lady required, had the honour of being esteemed the inventor of the Tyrian purple.[1363] ----- Footnote 1360: Cf. Plat. Tim. t. vii. 95. De Rep. t. vi. p. 183, seq. Don J. P. Canáls y Martí, sob. la Purp. de los Antiguos. Gibbon, however, considered the ancient purple very inferior to our own: “By the discovery of cochineal, &c., we far surpass the colours of antiquity. Their royal purple had a strong smell, and a dark cast, as deep as bull’s blood—obscuritas rubens (says Cassiodorus, Var. i. 2,) nigredo sanguinea. The president, Goguet, will _amuse_ and _satisfy_ the reader.” Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vii. 90. _Note._ Goguet will, no doubt, amuse and instruct, but I very much question whether he will satisfy, the reader. When Goguet and Gibbon wrote, the subject was much less understood than it is at present. Footnote 1361: Hist. de l’Art. iv. 5. 500, sqq. Footnote 1362: Horat. Epist. ii. 1. 207. Footnote 1363: Poll. i. 45. sqq. Palæphat. Fragm. ap. Gal. Opuscul. Mytholog. &c. p. 62. Goguet, Origine des Loix. iii. 196. Fab. Column. de Purp. i. 22. -----