In another respect, however, connected with the observance of this very natural rule, the customs of ancient times, especially in the East, differed materially from those of modern; yet so, that under the circumstances of the case, in consequence of this difference itself, the breach of the rule in question, would necessarily appear a greater offence against decency and good manners, in ancient than in modern times. When persons of distinction gave entertainments, upon a large scale, and consequently to a proportionably numerous company of guests; dresses, proper to be worn, were distributed to every individual of the company present, by their host himself: and that they might be able to supply them, on such occasions, in sufficient numbers, the possessions of the rich in the East, from time immemorial, consisted, among other things, of large stores and collections of garments, of every size and quality, laid up in vestries or wardrobes, and constantly ready for use. The uniformity of the modes or fashions in dress, which have never been known to vary much in the East, but are nearly the same now as in periods of the most remote antiquity, rendered such collections of garments as proper for use at one time as at another; while, in case of their not being wanted, the dryness of the air and the serenity of the climate in most of the regions of the same quarter of the world, by obviating one of the chief of the natural causes which, under other circumstances, might operate to the decay and destruction of possessions of that description, qualified them to be kept, in their original freshness and integrity, almost for any length of time d.

d The earliest instance of the mention of raiment, as an article

As a well-known and familiar part, then, of the ceremonies usual in such instances, it must have

of value, or species of possession characteristic of wealth, occurs in the scripture account of the presents which the servant of Abraham made to Rebecca, Genesis xxiv. 53. Afterwards we find repeated allusions to this among other valuables, and instances of wealth, at all periods of the sacred history: see Genesis xlv. 22: Job xxvii. 16: Joshua vii. 21; xxii. 8: Judges xiv. 12; xvii. 10: 2 Kings v. 22: vii. 8: 2 Chron. ix. 24: xxxiv. 22, &c.

Among the peculiar enemies to the durability of such possessions as stores of garments, would be the moth, (σǹs,)—which is no doubt the reason why the moth, ons, is mentioned, Matt. vi. 19: Luke xii. 33: as much as ẞpois, rust, or canker; as one of the evils to which treasures on earth were exposed, in opposition to treasures in heaven. The former was as formidable to the security of stores of garments, as the latter to that of hoards of gold or silver; both together being supposed to make part of the notion of wealth, in the ordinary acceptation of the term. In like manner, James, v. 2, tells the rich men of his time, who had stored up treasure in the latter days, when by the national visitations coming upon their country, it was about to be all taken from them at once-that their garments were become oŋróBpwra, or moth-eaten, as well as their wealth, Tλoûтos, cankered, (σéσŋπe,) and their gold and their silver all over rusted, (xaríwTai,) the effect, as the context shews, of the merciless, griping, and avaricious spirit, with which they had been originally extorted, and since kept hoarded unprofitably.

Apollonius, nepì kate↓evoμévns iotopías, cap. 48: observes, λιβάνωτος βοτανὴ συντιθεμένη μετὰ ἱματίων κωλύει σῆτας ἐγγίγνεσθαι. Horace, Serm. ii. Sat. iii. 18:

Cui stragula vestis

Blattarum ac tinearum epulæ putrescat in arca.

Lucian, iii. 404. Epp. Saturnales 21. where the speaker in the person of a slave, is talking of the better use the rich might make of their wealth in various ways, for the benefit of their slaves, rather than letting it perish, by lying idle, and useless for every purpose; alludes to their stores of garments, among their other possessions, as what might be so applied: àñò dè iμa

been implied in the parable, even had nothing been
specially mentioned to that effect, that before the
τίων, ὅσα κἂν ὑπὸ σητῶν διαβρωθέντα οὐκ ἂν αὐτοὺς ἀνιάσειε· ταῦτα
γοῦν πάντως ἀπολλύμενα, καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ χρόνου διαφθαρησόμενα, ἡμῖν δοῦ-
και περιβαλέσθαι μᾶλλον, ἢ ἐν ταῖς κοιτίσι καὶ κίσταις, εὐρῶτι πολλῷ
κατασαπῆναι.

Gemmas, marmor, ebur, Tyrrhena sigilla, tabellas,
Argentum, vestes Gætulo murice tinctas,

Sunt qui non habeant: est qui non curat habere.

Horace, Ep. ii. ii. 180.

Scindentur vestes, gemmæ frangentur et aurum :
Carmina quam tribuent, fama perennis erit.

Ovid, Amor. i. x. 61.

Seneca, De Tranquillitate Animi, cap. i. 3. Operum i. 327: Placet non in ambitionem cubile compositum, non ex arcula prolata vestis, non mille ponderibus aut tormentis splendere cogentibus pressa: sed domestica et vilis, nec servata, nec sumenda sollicite.

Xenophon tells us, Cyropædia viii. iii. 3. that Cyrus distributed among all his nobles, Μηδικὰς στολάς παμπόλλας γὰρ παρεσκευάσατο, οὐδὲν φειδόμενος, οὔτε πορφυρίδων, οὔτε ὀρφνίνων, οὔτε φοινικίδων, οὔτε καρυκίνων ἱματίων. Alexander found at Persepolis an immense collection of valuable garments, belonging to the kings of Persia: in particular, stores of purple, (which must be understood to mean of purple raiment, the dress of royalty,) 190 years old, yet as fresh and beautiful as when new: Diodorus Sic. xvii. 70: Plut. Alex. 36: and among the treasures of Bagoas, a Persian nobleman, which he presented to Parmeno, was a collection of garments valued at a thousand talents: nearly 200,000 pounds: Plutarch. Alexander, 39.

Alexander made a present of five changes of men's dresses, and as many of female, to each of the eight hundred Grecian captives, whom he found at Persepolis; Diodor. Sic. xvii. 69. Gellias, a wealthy citizen of Agrigentum in Sicily, made a present of a change of garments, (a χιτών, and an ἱμάτιον,) to each of five hundred persons at once; Diodor. Sic. xiii. 83: Valerius Maximus, iv. viii. 2: Athenæus, i. 5. Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, contemporary with Pompey, (Ptolemy Auletes,) made a present of a suit of clothes to each of the soldiers in his army,

celebration of the banquet could begin, with the guests brought in for the purpose, garments adapted

in the war with Mithridates; Appian, De Bello Mithridatico cxiv. The characteristic anecdote of Lucullus, related by Horace, is well known :

Chlamydes Lucullus, ut aiunt,

Si posset centum scenæ præbere rogatus,

Qui possum tot? ait: tamen et quæram et quot habebo
Mittam: post paulo scribit, sibi millia quinque

Esse domi chlamydum: partem, vel tolleret omnes.

Horace, Epp. i. vi. 40.

The chlamys was the male Grecian cloak or mantle, answering probably to the chlanis in the female dress. Plutarch, Lucullus, 39. adds that these chlamydes were all of purple. Aulus Gellius seems to allude to the same story, ix. 8. where he reports the following saying of Favorinus, τὸν γὰρ μυρίων καὶ πεντακισχιλίων χλαμύδων δεόμενον, οὐκ ἔστι μὴ πλειόνων δεῖσθαι· οἷς γὰρ ἔχω προσδεόμενος, ἀφελὼν ὧν ἔχω, ἀρκοῦμαι οἷς ἔχω.

Tickets, tesseræ, entitling the receivers to presents of garments, among other things, used to be issued at the congiaria or largesses of the emperors, or others, to the people of Rome, Dio, xlix. 43: lxi. 18: Suet. Neron. 12: Dio, lxvi. 25. Nerva, being desirous to raise money for the expenses of the government, in the least oppressive way, caused large quantities of clothes, belonging to the imperial wardrobe, to be publicly exposed to sale: Dio, lxviii. 2. And in his war with Trajan, Decebalus, king of Dacia, besides disposing of his other treasures in a different way, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Romans, concealed his stores of iuária in caves : Dio, lxviii. 14.

Cf. Lysias apud Oratores Atticos, xii. 19, 20: Joseph. Ant. Jud. xii. ii. 15, &c.

Ant. Jud. viii, iii. 8: it is said that Solomon provided for the service of the first temple, 10,000 vestures of linen, (byssus,) 10,000 girdles of purple, intended for the priests; and 200,000 vestures of linen, for the use of the Levites: and B. vi. v. 2. we are told that immense quantities of vestures, along with other valuables, laid up in the gazophylacia, were destroyed along

to such an occasion as a marriage festivity, and therefore properly to be called and considered, evdúμaтa jáμov, or wedding-dresses, had been provided for each of the company present, out of the vestry of the king; without wearing which they could not be received into the guest-chamber itself, much less could expect to be admitted to the entertainment. It is to be presumed that so necessary a preliminary step would be taken in each instance with every guest, before ushering him into the guestchamber; that is, as often as an individual guest was brought in, and so one more was added to the number of the company present, that the dress which it was requisite for him to wear, would be tendered to him, at the same time, and put on, or expected to be put on, by him, before he could take his place among the rest.

This part of the ceremony, therefore, must have been over, or may well be supposed to have been over, in every instance, before the personal review of his guests by the master of the feast could have an opportunity of taking place; and yet the object

with the second temple, in the fire that consumed it. We read also, 2 Kings x. 22. Ant. Jud. ix. vi. 6, that the temple of Baal in Samaria, in the time of Jehu, was provided with a wardrobe or vestry, competent to supply each of the worshippers assembled by him, upon that occasion, who were doubtless many thousands in number, with an appropriate dress.

Mr. Harmer's Observations, ii. 11. ch. vi. obs. ii. and especially the extract from sir John Chardin, Ibid. 87. obs. xxx. will supply further information concerning the practice of the East still to collect and preserve stores of garments, and of the use made of them, either as presents from superiors to inferiors, or for purposes of more distinction than common.