§250. Footgear: the Soleae.--It may be set down as a rule that freemen did not appear in public at Rome with bare feet, except as nowadays under the compulsion of the direst poverty. Two styles of footwear were in use, slippers or sandals (_soleae_) and shoes (_calceī_). The slipper consisted essentially of a sole of leather or matting attached to the foot in various ways (see the several styles in Fig. 91). Custom limited its use to the house and it went characteristically with the tunic (§237), when that was not covered by an outer garment. Oddly enough, it seems to us, the slippers were not worn at meals. Host and guests wore them into the dining-room, but as soon as they had taken their places on the couches (§224) slaves removed the slippers from their feet and cared for them until the meal was over (§152). Hence the phrase _soleās poscere_ came to mean "to prepare to take leave." When a guest went out to dinner in a _lectīca_ (§151) he wore the _soleae_, but if he walked he wore the regular out-door shoes (_calceī_) and had his slippers carried by a slave. [Illustration: FIGURE 92. ROMAN SHOES] §251. The Calcei.--Out of doors the _calceus_ was always worn, although it was much heavier and less comfortable than the _solea_. Good form forbade the toga to be worn without the _calceī_, and they were worn also with all the other garments included under the word _amictus_. The _calceus_ was essentially our shoe, made on a last of leather, covering the upper part of the foot as well as protecting the sole, fastened with laces or straps. The higher classes had shoes peculiar to their rank. The shoe for senators is best known to us (_calceus senātōrius_), and is shown in Fig. 92; but we know only its shape, not its color. It had a thick sole, was open on the inside at the ankle, and was fastened by wide straps which ran from the juncture of the sole and the upper, were wrapped around the leg and tied above the instep. The _mulleus_ or _calceus patricius_ was worn originally by patricians only, but later by all curule magistrates. It was shaped like the senator's shoe, was red in color like the fish from which it was named, and had an ivory or silver ornament of crescent shape (_lūnula_) fastened on the outside of the ankle. We know nothing of the shoe worn by the knights. Ordinary citizens wore shoes that opened in front and were fastened by a strap of leather running from one side of the shoe near the top. They did not come up so high on the leg as those of the senators and were probably of uncolored leather. The poorer classes naturally wore shoes of coarser material, often of untanned leather (_pērōnēs_), and laborers and soldiers had half-boots (_caligae_) of the stoutest possible make, or wore wooden shoes. No stockings were worn by the Romans, but persons with tender feet might wrap them with _fasciae_ (§239) to keep the shoes and boots from chafing them. [Illustration: FIGURE 93. THE CAUSIA] [Illustration: FIGURE 94. THE PETASUS]