Page:Secret History of the Court of the Emperor Justinian 1674.djvu/45

 and more costly by far then their con­ditions would bear, had not the Money they had gotten by their Violences, furnished them with wherewithal. The Sleeves of their Vests were extream strait at their Wrists, but from thence to their Sholders, they were extraordinary wide, insomuch, that when upon the Theater, or in the Circus when they stretched forth their hands, either in speaking themselves, or in­citing of others, they exposed that part of the Body, that Sots and Fools might be induced to believe it was the strength and greatness of their Arm, which obliged them to wear them so large, not perceiving that the vacuity and wideness of the Sleeve, did rather discover the smalness of their Limbs. They took also the Doublet and the Hose, and several other fashions from the Huns, and gave them the names which they retain still among the people. At first they car­ried Daggers privately under their Coats, and meeting in little troops as soon as day was shut in, they took their Posts, possessed themselves of the corners of the Streets, robbed all that past by, took away their Cloaks, their Belts, their Gold Buckles, or what ever else they thought convenient for them. Some they killed after they had robbed them, that they might tell no tales, nor discover who had wronged them. All people were fellow sufferers in these exorbitancies, but especially those who were not of the faction of the Venetes; finding they could not do otherwise securely, they began to wear Clasps and Buckles of Copper upon their Rh