Umbrellas and their History | Page 5

palin xunaegeto." --Arist. Eq., 1347. [Footnote: "But your ears, by Jove, are stretched out like a parasol, and now again shut up."]
Which the Scholiast explains, _ekteinetai de kai systelletai pros ton katepeigonta kairon._ [Footnote: "Are opened and shut as need requires."] For a man to carry one was considered a mark of effeminacy, as appears from the following fragment of Anacreon:--
"skiadiskaen elephantinaen phorei gunaixin autos." Athenaeus, lib. xii., cap. 46, Section 534. [Footnote: "He carries an ivory parasol, as women do."]
Plutarch makes Aristides speak of Xerxes as sitting under a canopy or Umbrella looking at the sea-fight--
"kathaeenos hupd skiadi chrysae." Plut. Therm., c. 16 (p. 120), [Footnote: "Sitting under a golden canopy."]
and of Cleopatra in like manner--
"upo skiadi chrysopasto." Plut. Anton., c. 26 (p. 927). [Footnote: "Under a gold-wrought canopy."]
From Greece it is probable that the use of the Parasol passed to Rome, where it seems to have been commonly used by women, while it was the custom even for effeminate men to defend themselves from the heat by means of the Umbraculum, formed of skin or leather, and capable of being lowered at will. We find frequent reference to the Umbrella in the Roman Classics, and it appears that it was, not unlikely, a post of honour among maid-servants to bear it over their mistresses. Allusions to it are tolerably frequent in the poets. Virgil's "Munimen ad imbres" [Footnote: "A shelter for the shower."] probably has nothing to do with Umbrellas, but more definite mention of them is not wanting. Ovid speaks of Hercules carrying the Parasol of Omphale:--
"Aurea pellebant rapidos umbracula soles, Qu? tamen Hercule? sustinuere manus." --Ov. Fast., lib. ii., 1. 31 I. [Footnote: "A golden umbrella warded off the keen sun, which even the hands of Hercules have borne."]
Martial speaks of a servant carrying the Parasol:--
"Umbellam lusca, Lygde feras Domin?." --Mart., lib. xi., ch. 73. [Footnote: "Mayst thou, Lygde, be parasol-carrier for a publind mistress."]
Juvenal mentions an Umbrella as a present:--
"En cui tu viridem umbellam cui succina mittas" --Juv., ix., 50. [Footnote: "See to whom it is sent a green umbrella and amber ornaments"]
Ovid advises a lover to make himself agreeable by holding his mistress's Parasol:--
"Ipse tene distenta suis umbracula virgis" Ov. Ars. Am., ii., 209. [Footnote: "Yourself hold up the umbrella spread out by its rods"]
This shows that the Umbrella was of much the same construction as ours.
A very common use for it was in the theatre, whenever, from wind or other cause, the velarium or huge awning stretched over the building (always open to the air) could not be put up:--
"Accipe qu? nimios vincant umbracula soles, Sit licet, et ventus, te tua vela tegont." --Mart., lib. xiv., Ep. 28. [Footnote: "Take this, which may shield you from the sun's excessive rays. So may your own sail shield you, even should the breeze blow."]
By tua vela is to be understood "your own Umbrella." And elsewhere the same writer gives the advice:--
"Ingrediare viam coelo licet usque sereno Ad subitas nunquam scortea desit aquas." --Man'., lib. xiv. Ep. 130. [Footnote: "Though with a bright sky you begin your journey, let this cloak ever be at hand in case of unexpected showers."]
It will be noticed from the above extracts that the Umbrella does not appear to have been used among the Romans as a defence from rain; and this is curious enough, for we know that the theatres were protected by the velarium or awning, which was drawn across the arena whenever a sudden shower came on; strange that this self-evident application of the Umbrella should not have occurred to a nation generally so ingenious in the invention of every possible luxury. 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