Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/88



Sericæ vestes, et auro intexta velamina, quibus divitis corpus ambitur, damna viventium, non subsidia defunctorum sunt.—De Nabutho Jezraelitâ, cap. i. tom. i. p. 566. ''Ed. Bened.''

Silken garments, and veils interwoven with gold, with which the body of the rich man is encompassed, are a loss to the living, and no gain to the dead.

Here we think it not out of place to introduce the account of the silk-worm by Georgius Pisida, who flourished about A. D. 640, although he lived at Constantinople after the breeding of silk-worms had been introduced there. According to him the silk-worm pines or moulders almost to nothing in its tomb, and then returns to its former shape. The verses are however deserving of attention for their elegance, and for the repetition of Basil's idea, which Ambrose has left out, of the analogy between the restoration of the silk-worm and the resurrection of man.

[Greek: Poios de kai skôlêka Sêrikon nomos Peithei ta lamproklôsta nêmata plekein, Ha, tê baphê chrôstheta tês halourgidos, Xaunoi ton ogkon tôn kratountôn emphronôs? Mnêmê gar autous eulabôs hypotrechei, Hoti pro autôn tês stolês hê lamprotês Skôlêkos ên endyma kai phthartê skepê, Hos, tê kath' hêmas martyrôn anastasei, Thnêskei men endon tôn heautou nêmatôn, Ton auton oikon kai taphên dedegmenos, Schedon de pantos tou kat' auton sarkiou Sapentos ê rhyentos ê tetêgmenou, Chronou kalountos ek phthoras hypostrephei, Kai tên palai morphôsin arrhêtôs phyei En tô peritteusanti mikrô leipsanô, Pros tên ap' archês sômatoumenos plasin.]

l. 1265-1282.

What law persuades the Seric worm to spin Those shining threads, which, dyed with purple hue, Inflate, yet check the pride of mighty men? For, whilst they blaze in grand attire, the thought Steals on,—This splendid robe once cloth'd a worm: Type of our resurrection from the grave, It dies within the tomb itself has spun, That perishing abode, which is at once Its house and tomb; in which it rots away,