Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/476

 done in the temple of Feronia, who was the goddess of freedmen. In her temple at Terracina was a stone seat, on which was engraved the following verse:

"Benemeriti servi sedeant, surgent liberi."

In allusion to this practice it appears that the Romans, though they did not commonly wear hats, put them on at the Saturnalia. At the death of Nero, the common people to express their joy went about the city in felt caps. In allusion to this custom the figure of Liberty on the coins of Antoninus Pius holds the cap in her right hand. Figures 1 and 2 in Plate IX. are examples selected from the collection in the British Museum, and, as we learn from the legend, were struck when he was made consul the fourth time, i. e. A. D. 145.

In contradistinction to the various forms of the felt cap now described and represented, all of which were more or less elevated, and many of which were pointed upwards, we have now to consider those, which, though made of felt, and therefore classed by the ancients under the general terms pileus, [Greek: pilos], &c., corresponded more nearly to our modern hat. The Greek word [Greek: petasos], dim. [Greek: petasiôn], derived from [Greek: petannyma], extendo, dilato, and adopted by the Latins in the form petasus, dim. petasunculus, well expressed the distinctive form of these hats. They were more or less broad and expanded. What was taken from their height was added to their width. Those already mentioned had no brim; the petasus of every variety had a brim, which was either exactly or nearly circular, and which varied greatly in its width. In some cases it seems to be a mere circular disc without any crown at all. Of this we have an example in a beautiful statue, which has, no doubt, been meant for Endymion, in the Townley collection of the British Museum. See Plate IX. Fig. 3. His right hand encircles his head, and his scarf is spread over a rock as described. Here [Greek: pilion] seems to mean the [Greek: petasos].]