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

C 7 4 LE',TUS. LECTUS.
to support the head; and in some ancient pictures tile wiealthy lomans fair surpassed every-thing we
two other square pillows are seen, which were in- find described in Greece.'Ihe bedstead was getended to support the back. The coveit's of such nerally rather high, so that persons entered the
pillows arc striped in several pictures on ancient bed (scandere, asccndee ie) by mineians of steps placed
vases (see the woodcut under SvyirosiuaQ), and beside it (scinameni, ~arro, de Lin.q. Lat. v. 1688,
were therefore probably of various colours. TI hey Muiller; Ovid. Fast. ii. 349, &c.). It was somewere undoubtedly filled with the sanme mnaterials times made of metal, and soinetimes of costly kinds
as the beds and mattresses. of wood or veneered with tortoise-shell or ivory; its
The bed-covers, which may lie termed blankets fteet (fir ira) were fi:equently of silver or gold.
or counterpanes, were called by a variety of names, (1lin. xvi. 413; Mart. xii. 67; Juv. xi. 94.) The
such as 7rsptoerpCd'ra v'rorpae, tanofpaaaaA a,,bed or mnattriss (cadcita ani d torius) rested upon
Ep(e'rpOEs, XXalvat, e/4IterTpitSe, &rt~ eaa, d. girths or strinas (re.ics,/ fitseie, isstsitc, or f.tes)
wrtss,4us odsbrieF, /aVrirsTs, Xpij(rdyra,ore aydr-qE which connected the two horizontal side-posts of'
or (cIlTiran'ra'ec. The common name, however, was tshe led. (Cic. s e Diic. ii. 65; Mart. v. 62
rrpsc'a'ra. They were generallv mnaide of cloth, IPetosn. 97; compare lHorst. Eiol. xii. 12; Cato,
which was very thick and woosly either on one le ie 1nsnt. c. 10.) In beds destined for two
or on b]oth sides. (Pollux, vi. 9.) It is not persons, the two sides are distinguishe d by different
always easy to dlistinsish wlethlier the ancients, namnes; the sides at wilich persons entered was
when speaking of icxivai, c0n1 bii dus in o01 sense open, ind bore the naimie ofsponoria; the other side,
of the word, or the.courchis on wlir Is they Iti at which nwas protected hb a oioarcd, was called p/htletls.
mineal times. We couserquently do not know whle- (Isidlor. xx. 11. p. 6i29, ed. lindemalnn.) The two
ther the descriptive epithets of cAival, enumerated sides of susch al ed are also distinguisihed by- tile
bIy Pollux, belong to beds or to couches. But this names ionrs eixterior and torits inerimm', or i.omi/2(la
matters little, as there was scarcely any difference e/terior andl sepondia ijterior (Ovid. A ion. iiio. 1 4.
between the beds of the ancients asnd their couches, 32; Suetos. Ccas. 49); aind froiom these expreswith this exception, that the latter ibeing made for sions it is not improbablethhat snchslecti had two beds
appearance as well as for comnfort, were, oni the or nmattresses, one for each person. Mattresses were
whlole, uindoiubtedly more splen did and costly thian in the earlier times filled wsith dry herbs (Yarro,
the fonrmer. Considering, however, that bedsteads /. c.; Ovid. l'tast. i. 200 ands 205), or straw (Hoorat.
were often made of the most costly imaterials, we Sat. ii. 3. 1; Miart. xiv. 160; Senec. De Vit.
may reasonably infer that the coverings and other Beat. c. 25), and such beds continued to be used
ornamenits of beds were little inferior to those of by thile poor. But in subsequent times wool, and
couches. Notwithstanding the splendour and coin- at a still later period, feathers were used by the
fort of many Greek beds, the Asiatics, who have wealthy for the beds as well as the pillows. (Plin.
at all times excelled the EEuropeans iu these kinds IL. N. viii. 41, x. 22; Plast. Al/. Glor. iv. 4.
of luxuries, said that the Greeks did not under- 42; Cie. Tesc. iii. 19; Mart. xiv. G161 and 159.)
stand how to make a comsfortable bed. (Athen. ii. The cloth or tickling (ope/rime/tusn or invol/tcrumn),
p. 48 Plut. Pelop. 30.) The places most cele- with which the beds or mattresses were covered,
brated for the manufiscture of splendid bed-covers was called toral, torale, linteurn, or segestre. (IHorat.
were Miletis, Corinth, and Carthage. (Aristoph. Sat. ii. 4. 84, Ep/ist. i. 5. 21; Varro, 1. c.) The
Ran. 410, 5-12, witlh the Schol.; Lysistr. 732; blankets or counterpanes (vestes st/agulae, stcragila,
Cic. e. Ven'. i. 34; Athen. i. pp. 27, 28.) It ap- sperLstromata, peripetiasmsta) were in the houses of
pears that the Greeks, though they wore night- wealthy Romans of the most costly description,
gowns, did not simply cover themselves with the and generally of a psrple colour (stragula conoa///lo'-pc6/uaT'a, but wrapt themselve sup ii them. Less tineta, per/istsroiata conchyliata, coccina stragu/a)
wealthy.persons continued, according to the ancient and embroidered with beautifiml figures in gold.
custonm, to use skins of sheep and other animals, Covers of this sort were called peripetassiata
especially in vwinter, as blankets. (Pollux, x. 123; Attalica, because they were said to have been
Aristoph. Nub. 10.) first used at the court of Attalus. (Plin. t. N.
The bedsteads of the poorer classes are de- 1. c.; Cic. c. Vesr. iv. 12, 26, Ph/lip. ii. 27; Mart.
signated by the nanmes owciMrovs, &uc~vs-ais, and ii. 16.) The pillows were likewise covered with
icpdpGaf'oe, and an exaggerated description of sucih magnificent casings. WVhether the ancients had
a bed is given by Aristophanes. (h'l/t. 540, curtains to their beds is not mentioned any&c.; compare Lysistr. 916.) The words Xa/e1uva/ where; but as curtains, or rather a kind of canopy
and XaeSuv'Lov, which originally signified a bed of (atsiaea), were used in the lectus tricliniaris (Horat.
straw or dry herbs made on the ground (Theocrit. Carns.. iii. 29. 15, Sat. ii. 8. 54) for the purpose
iii. 33; Plut. Lycurg. 16), were afterwards ap- of preventing the dust falling upon the persons
plied to a bed which was only near the ground, lying on it, it is not improbable that the same or
to distinguish it from the tomy, which was gene- a similar contrivance was used in the lectus cubirally a high bedstead. XaxEvYia were the usual cularis.
beds for slaves, soldiers in the field, and poor The lectus genial/s or adversucs was the bridal
citizens, and the mattresses nused in them were mere bed which stood in the atriunm, opposite the janua,
mats made of rushes or bast. (Pollux, 1. e., and whence it derived the epithet adversus. (Horat.
vi. 11; Becker, 6/tarik/es, vol. ii. pp. 114-122; Epist. i. 1. 87; Festus, s. v.; comp. Domsus,
Polluix, x. c. 7, 8, vi. 1.) p. 428, a.) It was generally high, with steps by
The beds of the Romans (/ecti cubiculares) in the its side, and in later times beautifiully adorned.
earlier periods of the republic were probably of the (Gelliis, xvi. 9; Lncan. ii. 356; Cic. pro ClueGd.
same description as those used in Greece; but to- c. 5.)
wards the end of the republic and during the em- Respecting the leetus fiunebris see the articles
pire, when Asiatic luxuries were imported into FUNUS and LEcTICA. An account of the disItaly, the sichness and nmagnificence of the aeds of position of the couches used at entertainments, and