Possibly the expense bestowed in the decoration of the
_umbraculum_ was a reason for its not being applied to what we
cannot but regard as its legitimate use.
After the founding of Constantinople, the custom of great people
carrying an Umbrella seems to have arisen, but in Rome it appears
only to have been used as a luxury, never as a mark of distinction,
Pliny speaks of Umbrellas made of palm-leaves, but from other sources
we may gather that the Romans--at all events in the days of the
empire--lavished as much splendour on their Umbrella as on all the
articles of their dress. Ovid (as above quoted) speaks of an Umbrella
inwrought with gold, and Claudian in the same way has:--
"Neu defensura calorem
Aurea submoveant rapidos umbracula soles."
--_Claud._, lib. viii., De. iv. cons. Honorii, 1. 340.
[Footnote: "Nor. to protect you from the heat, let the golden
umbrella ward off the keen sun's rays."]
From this we may conclude that the carrying an Umbrella was in some
sort a mark of effeminacy. In another place carrying the Umbrella is
alluded to as one of the duties of a slave:--
"Jam non umbracula tollunt
Virginibus," etc.
[Footnote: "_Now_ they do not carry girls' parasols."]
Gorius says that the Umbrella came to Rome from the Etruscans, and
certainly it appears not infrequently on Etruscan vases, as also on
later gems.
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