The Consul is seen sitting on the _sella curulis_, or consular chair. This has no back, and is usually made of ivory, with elaborately carved masks and claws of lions, and sometimes has small figures of Victory on the arms. On it is a richly embroidered cushion, rather ostentatiously showing; for to sit on a cushion in the Circus was only allowed to certain privileged classes. His feet rest on the _scabellum_, or stool, and he is clad in his gorgeous festival robe, which is a development of the purple triumphal garb of the victorious generals in earlier days. The component parts of this dress are still under discussion, but according to Meyer[5] they consist of four parts: 1st. The _paenula_. A long plain under-robe with long narrow sleeves; 2nd. The _colobium_. A shorter embroidered over-tunic, with half length wide sleeves; 3rd. An embroidered strip, which is laid over one shoulder and hangs down before and behind; 4th. A nameless wrap of lighter material, embroidered or woven in a pattern. The complete dress was called the _trabea_ or _toga picta_. Wilpert,[6] however, declares that Nos. 3 and 4 are one long piece equal to the ancient toga: without which, by a decree of 382, the Senators were forbidden to appear in public, and which by more and more folding was reduced into the narrow Byzantine _lorum_. The feet were covered with red leather shoes, fastened by crossed ribbons with falling ends. The Consul holds in his right hand the _mappa circensis_ and in his left the _scipio_ or sceptre. These sceptres are crowned by many devices—an eagle, busts of the imperial family and even two sitting figures. As in the diptych of Orestes, there are often two female personifications of Rome and Constantinople; the former, on the Consul’s right hand, holds a tessera in her right and a spear in her left hand. Her helmet has three crests, while that of Constantinople only one. The latter holds up her right hand and bears a shield or standard in the left. These cities are sometimes represented in little medallions on the Consul’s chair (No. 17). Very often above the head of the central figure were medallions with the portraits of imperial personages, or, perhaps, renowned ancestors. These niches were designed in imitation of those wooden shrines in which Roman households kept the waxen busts of their ancestors. Sometimes these diptychs were finished with a cross, and some have a medallion with the bust of Christ (No. 36). The upper part was inscribed with the name and titles of the Consul, the last name always denominating the year. Some early tablets have the name in the genitive, always a sign of antiquity, as _Nicomachorum_ and _Symmachorum_ (No. 58), _Felicis_ (No. 3), _Lampadorium_ (No. 33), and the plain tablets bearing the name _Gallieni Concessi V.C._