[311] 311ff.. The picture of the spinning is entirely realistic. A mass of prepared wool but loosely fastened together is attached to one end of the distaff (colus), which is held in the left hand. With the right hand the spinner draws the filaments from the mass and twists them between thumb and finger into a thread, the firmness of the twisting being assisted by attaching the end of the thread to the spindle (fusus), weighted by the turbo, which acts as a fly-wheel.
Catullus. Catullus. E. T. Merrill. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1893.
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