rdinary sale; but the union
of six threads composed a piece of stronger and more costly workmanship.
Among the colors, he celebrates, with affectation of eloquence, the
fiery blaze of the scarlet, and the softer lustre of the green. The
embroidery was raised either in silk or gold: the more simple ornament
of stripes or circles was surpassed by the nicer imitation of flowers:
the vestments that were fabricated for the palace or the altar often
glittered with precious stones; and the figures were delineated in
strings of Oriental pearls. [21] Till the twelfth century, Greece alone,
of all the countries of Christendom, was possessed of the insect who
is taught by nature, and of the workmen who are instructed by art,
to prepare this elegant luxury. But the secret had been stolen by the
dexterity and diligence of the Arabs: the caliphs of the East and West
scorned to borrow from the unbelievers their furniture and apparel;
and two cities of Spain, Almeria and Lisbon, were famous for the
manufacture, the use, and, perhaps, the exportation, of silk. It was
first introduced into Sicily by the Normans; and this emigration of
trade distinguishes the victory of Roger from the uniform and fruitless
hostilities of every age. After the sack of Corinth, Athens, and Thebes,
his lieutenant embarked with a captive train of weavers and artificers
of both sexes, a trophy glorious to their master, and disgraceful to the
Greek emperor. [22] The king of Sicily was not insensible of the value
of the present; and, in the restitution of the prisoners, he excepted
only the male and female manufacturers of Thebes and Corinth, who labor,
says the Byzantine historian, under a barbarous lord, like the old
Eretrians in the service of Darius. [23] A stately edifice, in the
palace of Palermo, was erected for the use of this industrious colony;
[24] and the art was propagated by their children and disciples to
satisfy the increasing demand of the western world. The decay of the
looms of Sicily may be ascribed to the troubles of the island, and the
competition of the Italian cities. In the year thirteen hundred and
fourteen, Lucca alone, among her sister republics, enjoyed the lucrative
monopoly. [25] A domestic revolution dispersed the manufacturers to
Florence, Bologna, Venice, Milan, and even the countries beyond the
Alps; and thirteen years after this event the statutes of Modena enjoin
the planting of mulberry-trees, and regulate the duties on raw sil