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TELA.

with which Gray has made us familiar in his trans­lation, and which describes the loom of " the Fatal Sisters," represents warriors' skulls as supplying the place of these round stones (pondera, Sen. Epist. 91 ; Plin. H. N. L c.). The knotted bundles of threads, to which the stones were attached, often remained after the web was finished in the form of a fringe. [fimbriae.]

Whilst the: comparatively coarse, strong, and much-twisted thread designed for the warp was thus arranged in parallel lines, the woof remained upon the spindle [Fusus], forming a spool, bobbin, or pen (tt^tj, dim. irqviov, Horn. II. xxiii. 762 ; Eurip. Nee. 466). This was either conveyed through the warp without any additional con* trivance, as is still the case in Iceland, or it was made to revolve in a shuttle (ttccj/ouA/cos, Hesych. s. v. Tlriviov : radius, Lucret. vk 1352). This was made of box brought from the shores of the Euxine, and was pointed at its extremities, that it might easily force its way through the warp. (Virg. Aen. ix. 476 ; Ovid. Met. iv.' 275, vi. 56, 1.32, Fast. iii. 879.) The annexed woodcut shows the form in which it is still used in some retired parts of our island for common domestic purposes, and which may be regarded as a form of great antiquity. An oblong cavity is seen in its upper surface, which holds the bobbin. A small stick, like a wire, extends through the length of this cavity, and enters its two extremities so as to turn freely. The small stick passes through a hollow cane, which our manufacturers call a quill, and which

Ss surrounded by the woofi This is drawn through a round hole in the front of the shuttle, arid, whenever the shuttle is thrown, the bobbin re­volves and delivers the woof through this hole. The process of winding the yarn so as to make it into a bobbin or pen^ was called iryvifecrQai (Theocrit. xviii. 32) or dvairrjvi^earQai. (Aristot. H. A. v. 19.) The reverse process by which it was delivered through the hole in front of the shuttle (see the last woodcut) was called eKir-rjvl-^eaOai. Hence the phrase eKTTTji/ierrcu ravra means " he shall disgorge these things." (Aristoph. Ran. 586 ; Schol. in loc.)

All that is effected by the shuttle is the con­veyance of the woof across the warp. To keep every thread of the woof in its proper place it is necessary that the threads of the warp should be decussatedi This was done by the leashes^ called in Latin licia, in Greek /hitoi (jutros, Horn. II. xxiii. 762). By a leash we are to understand a thread having at one end a loop, through which a thread of the warp was passed, the other end being fastened to a straight rod called Liciatorium, and in Greek Kavcav. (Aristoph. Thesm. 829.) The warp, having been divided by the arundo, as already mentionedj into two sets of threads, all those of the same set were passed through the loops of the cor­responding set of leashes^ and all these leashes were fastened at their other end to the same wooden rod, At least one set of leashes was necessary to decussate the warp;, even in the plainest and sim­plest weaving. The number of sets was increased

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TELA.

according to the complexity of the pattern, which was called lilix or trilioc (Mart. xiv. 143), SfaiTos, (Crat. Jim. Frag. p. 103, ed. Runkel), or (Per. Mar. Eryih. pp. 164, 170, 173, ed. Blancardi), according as the number was two, three, or more.

The process of annexing the leashes to the warp was called ordiri telam (Plin. H. N. xi. 24. s. 28), also licia telae addere, or adnectere. (Virg. Georg. i. 285 ; Tibull. i. 6. 78.) It occupied two women at the same time, one of whom took in regular succes­sion each separate thread of the warp and handed it over to the other ; this part of the process was called 7rapcc</>epeii>, TrapaSwoi/aj, or irpofyopslffQaia (Schol. in Aristoph. Av.4 ; Suidas, Hesychius, s. v.} The other woman, as she received each thread, passed it through the loop in proper order, and this act, which we call " entering," was called in Greek Siafe<70c«. (Schol. in Horn. Od. vii. 107.)

Supposing the warp to have been thus adjusted, and the pen or the shuttle to have been carried through it, it was then decussated by drawing for­wards the proper: rod, so as to carry one set of the threads of the warp across the rest, after which the woof was shot back again, and by the continual re­petition of this process the warp and woof were interlaced. (Plutarch, vii. sap. conv. p. 592, ed. Reiske ; Horn. II. xxiii. 760—763,) In the pre­ceding figure of the Icelandic loom we observe two staves, which are occasionally used to fix the rods in such a position as is most convenient to assist the weaver in drawing her woof across her warp. After the woof had been conveyed by the shuttle through the warp, it was driven sometimes down­wards, as is represented in the first woodcut, bufc more commonly upwards as in the second. (Isid. Orig. xixi 22; Herod, ii. 35.) Two different in­struments were used in this part of the process. The simplest and probably the most ancient was in the form of a large wooden sword (spatha, crirdQr}, dim. o-jrddiop, Brunck, Anal. i. 222; Plato, Lysis, p. 118 ; Aesch. Choepli. 226). From the verb oTraflaco, to beat with the spatha, cloth rendered close and compact by this process was called <T7ra-oijtos. (Athen. xii. p. 525, d.) This instrument is still used in Iceland exactly as it was in ancient times, and a figure of it copied from Olafsen, is given in the second woodcut.

The spatha was, however, in a great degree superseded by the comb (pecten, /cep/ds). the teeth of which were inserted between the threads of the warp, and thus made by a forcible impulse to drive the threads of the woof close together. (Ovid. Fast, iii. 880, Met. vi. 58 ; Juv. ix. 26; Virg. Aen. vii. 14 ; Horn. II. xxii. 448 ; Aristoph. Aves, 832 ; Eurip. Ion, 509, 760, 1418, 1492.) It is probable that the teeth were sometimes made of metal (Horn. Od. v. 62); and they were accommodated to the purpose intended by being curved (pectinis unci, Claudian, in Eutrop. ii. 382), as is still the case in the combs which are used in the same manner by the Hindoos. Among us the office of the comb is executed with greater ease and effect by the reed, lay, or batten.

The lyre [lyra], the favourite musical instru­ment of the Greeks, was only known to the Ro­mans as a foreign invention. Hence they appear to have described its parts by a comparison with the loom, with which they were familiar. The terms jugum and stamina were transferred by an obvious resemblance from the latter to the former