Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1212 VITTA. VITTA.'
angles to the direction of the fibres, each of these female dress. II. As a decoration of sacred persections would upon both sides represent the de- sons and sacred things.
sign which would be multiplied to an extellt in I. When considered as an ordinary portion of
proportion to the total length of the glass threads. female dress, it was simply a band encircling the
Two beautiful fragmlents evidently constructed in head, and serving to confine the tresses (crinales
this way are accurately commented uponl by vittae) the ends, when long (lolngae tenia vittae),
Winckelmann (i. c. 2. ~ 22, 23, 24), and another hanging down behind. (Virg. Aen. vii. 351, 403;
recently brought from Egypt is shown on the fron- Ovid. Mlet. ii. 413, iv. 6; Isidor. xix. 31. ~ 6.)
tispiece to the third volume of Wilkinson's work. It was worn (1.) by maidens (Virg. Aen. ii. 1 68
MIany mosaic pavements and pictures (opes smu- Prop. iv. 11. 34; Val. Flace. viii. 6; Serv. acd
sivum) belong to this head, since the cubes were Fiq-. Aen. ii. 133); (2.) by married women also,
frequently composed of opaque glass as well as the vitta assumed on the nuptial day being of a
marble, but these have been already discussed in different form from that used by virgins. (Prop. iv.
p. 915 of this work. 3. 15, iv. 11. 34; Plaut. 21li. GI. iii. 1. 194; Val.
5. Thick sheets of glass of various colours appear Max. v. 2. ~ L.)
to have been laid down for paving floors, and to The Vitta was snot worn by libertinae even of
have been attached as a lining to the Nwalls and fa'ir character (Tibull. i. 6. 67), much less by meceilings of apartments in dwelling houses, just as retrices; hence it was looked upon as an insigne
scagliLola is frequently employed in Italy, and oc- ptsdlo is, and, together with the stola and instita,
casionally in our own country also. Rooms fitted served to point out at first sight the freeborn maup in this way were called vitieae cazserae, and the tron. (Ovid. A.; A. i. 31, R. A. 386, Trist. ii.
panels vitreae quad'aturae. SSuch was the kind 247, Ep. e. Pont. iii. 3. 51.)
of decoration introduced by Scaurus for the scene T'he colour was probably a matter of choice,
of his theatre, not columns nor pillars of glass as I white and purple are both mentioned. (Ovid. Met.
some, nor bas-reliefs as others hsave imagined. ii. 413, Ciris, 511; Stat. Achlill. i. 611.) One
(Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 64; Stat. Syl. i. 5. 42; Senec. of those represented in the cuts below is ornaEjP. 76; Vopisec. Fi7sn. c. 3; W1inckelmran,, i. mented with embroidery, and they were in sole
c. 2. ~ 21; Passeri, Lucernae Fictiles, p. 67. tab. cases set with pearls (vittae smasrsgaritar/olsss, Dig. 34.
lxxi.) tit. 2. s. 25. ~ 2).
6. The question whether glass windows were The following woodcuts represent back and front
known to the ancients has, after much discussion, views of the heads of statues from Herculaneum,
been set at rest by the excavations at Pompeii, for on which we perceive the vitta. (Broazi d'Esrconot only have many fragments of flat glass been iscno, vol. ii. tav. 72, 75.)
disinterred from time to time, but in the tepidariuin
of the public baths a bronze lattice came to light
with some of the panes still inserted in the frame,
so as to determine at once not only their existence, j'!
isut the mode in which they were secured and ar-'
ranged. (Mazois, Palais de Scaurus, c. viii. p. 97;'
izines ile Pomspri, vol. iii. p. 77; Becker, Galtus,
vol. ii. p. 2'0.) [Do.aus, p. 432.]
7. From the time that pure glass became known,
it must have been remarkled that lwhen darkened <
upon one side, it possessed the property of reflecting images. WeC are certain that an attempt was
nlade by the Sidonians to make looking-glasses
(Plin. I.. h. xxxvi. 66), and equally certain that 1I. When employed for sacred purposes, it wvas
it must have failed, for the use of metallic mirrors, usually twisted round the infula [INFULA], antd
which are more costly in the first instance, which held together the loose flocks of wool. (Virg. Geoyg.
require constant care, and attain but imperfectly iii. 487, Alen. x. 537; Isidor. xix. 30. ~ 4; Serv.
the end desired, was universal under the Empire. ad 1isy. Aecn. x. 538; the expression of Lucan v.
Respecting ancient mirrors, see SPEcvULUA. 142, &c. is obscure.) Under this form it was el8. A strange story with regard to an alleged in- ployed as an ornament for (1.) Priests, and those
vention of malleable glass is found in Petronius who offered sacrifice. (Virg. Aes. ii. 221, Yi. 637,
(c. 51), is told still mnore circumstantially by Dion x. 537; Tacit. Ann. i. 57.) (2.) Priestesses, espeCassius (lvii. 21), and is alluded to by Pliny (I. N.r cially those of Vesta, and hence vittCta sacerdos
xxxvi. 66), with an expression of doubt, however, for a Vestal, tcal''s.XrX/. (VAirg. Aen. vii. 418;
as to its truth. Anl artist appeared before Tiberius Ovid. Fast. iii. 30, -vi. 457; Jnv. iv. 9, vi. 50.)
with a cup of glass. This he dashed violently (3.) Prophets and poets, who may be regarded as
upon the ground. When taken up it was neither priests, and in this case the Vittae were frequently
broken nor cracked, but dinted like a piece of intertwined with chaplets of olive or laurel. (Virg.
metal. The man then produced a mallet, and ham- Aen. iii. 81, vi. 665; Stat. Silv. ii. 1. 26, Achill.
nlered it back into its original shape. The emperor i. 11, Tleb. iii. 466). (4.) Statues of deities.
ilnquired whether any one was acquainted with the (Virg. Aen. ii. 168, 296; Juv. vi. 50; compare
secret, and was answered in the negative, upon Stat. Silv. iii. 3. 3.) (5.) Victims decked for sa —
which the order was given that he should be in- crifice. (Virg. Gesog. iii. 487, Aen. ii. 133, 156,
stantly beheaded. lest the precious metals might v. 366; Ovid. Ep. ex Ponzt. iii. 2. 74, Stat. A chill.
lose their value, should such a composition become ii. 301.) (6.) Altars. (Virg. Eecl. viii. 64, Aen.
generally known. [W. R..] iii. 64.) (7.) Temples. (Prop. iv. 9. 27; compare
VITTA, or pllral VITTAE, a ribbon. or fillet, Tacit. Jiist. iv. 53.) (8.) The ircer-'pta of suppliis to be considered, I. As an ordinary portion of ants. (Virg. Aen. vii. 237, viii. 128.)