RICINIUM
RICINIUM Before the
palla came
into use at Rome, a mantle of a smaller size, the
ricinium, was worn by women, and occasionally, it would seem
from certain ceremonial survivals, by men. It was a rectangular piece of
cloth (Fest. p. 274 b, 32, “Ricinium omne vestimentum quadratum ii qui
xii interpretati sunt esse dixerunt” ), and (though we cannot
doubt its connexion with
rica), according to
Varro and the grammarians, it got its name from the fact that it was worn
with one-half thrown back over the shoulder (Varro,
L. L.
5.132, “Antiquissimis amictui ricinium. Id, quod eo utebantur duplici,
ab eo quod dimidiam partem retrorsum jaciebant, a rejiciendo ricinium
dictum.” Cf. Isid.
Orig. 19.25, 4; Non. 542, 1;
Serv. ad Aen. 1.282). The word
occurs as early as the Twelve Tables, where it is used of the cloth with
which funeral pyres were decorated (Schöll,
Legis XII.
Tabularum Reliquiae, p. 57; cf.
Cic.
Legg. 2.2. 3, 59).
In classical times it was only used for ceremonial purposes, and was worn by
the
magister of the Fratres Arvales at the Ludi
Circenses (Henzen,
Acta fr. Arv. p. 37), by the boys who
attended them (Id. ib. 38;--Marini,
Atti d. fr. Arvali, 24.2,
9, 21; 32.3, 12; 37.7), and, to judge from the monuments, by the Camilli in
general. (Cf. Henzen in
Annali del‘ Inst. xxx.
(1858), p. 9; Daremberg and Saglio, s. v.
Camilli, p. 859.)
 |
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Sacrificial attendant (camillus) wearing the Ricinium. (From a
relief.)
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The
ricinium was also, according to Varro, worn
by women at funerals before the burial, whereas after it they put on black
pallae (quoted by Nonius, p. 549, 31,
“ut dum supra terram essent riciniis lugerent, funere ipso ut
pullis pallis amictae” ), a passage which clearly shows that
there was an essential difference between the
ricinium and the
palla. Of the
material of the
ricinium nothing is known
except that Lucilius speaks of one embroidered with gold (Lucil.
Fragm. p. 246).
Owing no doubt to its having disappeared from ordinary use at an early date,
the monuments give no representations of it on women. On certain Roman
sarcophagi, however, Camilli wearing over one or both shoulders a piece of
cloth fringed and with a long nap (cf. Clarac, ii. p. 218, n. 310; Daremberg
and Saglio,
l.c. and fig. 1053) are shown; and this
very probably is closely connected with the
ricinium, but not identical with it, for they are mentioned
together in a fragment of Novius as the
ricinium and the
rica or
ricula (cf. Ribbeck, edit. 2, p. 265, 71), which was
also rectangular. The
Flaminica, or wife of the
Flamen Dialis, wore one of purple and fringed, apparently not as a cloak
(Fest.
Epit. p. 288, 10), for the garment is of smaller size
and worn as a kerchief on the head (Id. p. 277a, 5;
FLAMEN), a use which is referred to in Aulus Gellius
(
6.10), and would seem to be akin to that of
the
FLAMMEUM
[Marquardt,
Privatleben, p. 575; Becker-Göll,
Gallus, iii. p. 264; Iwan Müller,
Handbuch, vol. iv. (Schiller), pp. 805 and 807. Many
references to monuments where Camilli wearing what
[p. 2.566]is almost certainly the
ricinium are to be
found in Daremberg and Saglio, s. v.
Camilli,
p. 859.]
[
W.C.F.A]
