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[659] “Habitus Gallorum bene expressus, etsi alieno fortasse loco” Heyne; another instance of forgetting the distinction between narrative and picture. The appearance and costume of the Gauls admitted of being expressed in metal, and Virg. takes advantage of the opportunity. For the hair of the Gauls Wagn. comp. Niebuhr vol. 1 note 1169. ‘Vestis’ has been explained by Serv. and other of the beard, a sense which does not seem to occur elsewhere (“inpubem molli pubescere vesteLucr. 5.672 is most naturally taken as a metaphor) though it is supported by the use of “investis,” a postclassical word, but one which may have been revived from earlier Latin (see Dictionaries). Whether there is authority for saying that the Gauls wore yellow garments (which would be naturally represented by gold) is not certain: Casaubon on Persius 6. 46 refers to Varro for the fact that they wore “gausapa,” and the “gausapa” of Caligula's captives, some of whom were Gauls, are said by Persius l. c. to be yellow: but I have not succeeded in verifying Casaubon's reference: not to mention that the meaning of “gansapa” in Persins is disputed precisely in the same way as that of ‘vestis’ here. Sil. 4. 155 has “auro virgatae vestes” of the Celts, showing how he understood the present pas-age.

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    • Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, 5.672
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