garments have been called Attalic.[2028] Babylon was very famous for making embroidery in different colours, and hence stuffs of this kind have obtained the name of Babylonian.[2029] The method of weaving cloth with more than two threads was invented at Alexandria; these cloths are called polymita;[2030] it was in Gaul that they were first divided into chequers.[2031] Metellus Scipio, in the accusation which he brought against Cato,[2032] stated that even in his time Babylonian covers for couches were selling for eight hundred thousand sesterces, and these of late, in the time of the Emperor Nero, had risen to four millions.[2033] The prætextæ of Servius Tullius, with which the statue of Fortune, dedicated by him, was covered,[2034] lasted until the death of Sejanus; and it is a remarkable fact, that, during a period of five hundred and sixty years, they had never become tattered,[2035] or received injury from moths. I myself have seen the fleece upon the living animal dyed purple, scarlet, and violet,—a pound and a half[2036] of dye being used for each,—just as though they had been produced by Nature in this form, to meet the demands of luxury. CHAP. 75.—THE DIFFERENT SHAPES OF SHEEP; THE MUSMON. In the sheep, it is considered a proof of its being of a very fair breed, when the legs are short, and the belly is covered with wool; when this part is bare, they used to be called apicæ, and were looked upon as worthless.[2037] The tail of the Syrian sheep is a cubit in length,[2038] and it is upon that part that most of the wool is found. It is considered too early to castrate lambs before they are five months old. (49.) There is in Spain, and more especially in Corsica, a peculiar kind of animal called the musmon,[2039] not very unlike a sheep, but with a fleece which more resembles the hair of the goat than the wool of the sheep. The ancients gave the name of umbri[2040] to the breed between this animal and the sheep. The head of the sheep is the weakest part of all, on which account it is obliged, when it feeds, to turn away from the sun.[2041] The animals which are covered with wool are the most stupid of all.[2042] When they are afraid to enter any place, if one is only dragged into it by the horns, all the rest will follow. The longest duration of their life is ten years; but in Æthiopia it is thirteen. Goats live in that country eleven years, but in other parts of the world mostly eight years only. Both of these animals require to be covered not more than four times to ensure conception. CHAP. 76. (50.)—GOATS AND THEIR PROPAGATION.