CHAP. 5.—AT WHAT PERIOD LINEN WAS FIRST DYED.
Attempts, too, have even been made to dye linen, and to
make it assume the frivolous colours [Note] of our cloths. This was
first done in the fleet of Alexander the Great, while sailing
upon the river Indus; for, upon one occasion, during a battle
that was being fought, his generals and captains distinguished
their vessels by the various tints of their sails, and astounded
the people on the shores by giving their many colours to the
breeze, as it impelled them on. It was with sails of purple,
too, that Cleopatra accompanied M. Antonius to the battle of
Actium, and it was by their aid that she took to flight: such
being the distinguishing mark of the royal ship.