bracae

brācae (not braccae), ārum (once in sing. brāca, ae, Ov. Tr. 5, 10, 34; and as access. form brāces, Edict. Diocl. p. 20), f. [Germ.; Swed. brōk; Angl.-Sax. brōk; Engl. breeches; Dutch, broek],

• trowsers, breeches; orig. worn only by barbarians, i.e. neither Greeks nor Romans: barbara tegmina crurum, Verg. A. 11, 777; in the time of the emperors also among the Romans, Ov. Tr. 5, 7, 49: Galli bracas deposuerunt, latum clavum sumpserunt, Poët. ap. Suet. Caes. 80 al.: virgatae, Prop. 4 (5), 10, 43: bracas indutus, Tac. H. 2, 20; Juv. 2, 169: pictae, Val. Fl. 6, 227: Sarmaticae, id. 5, 424: albae, Lampr. Alex. Sev. 40 fin. al.; Cod. Th. 14, 10, 2; cf. Burm. Anth. Lat. 2, p. 518, and bracatus.

bracae (braccae) [CL] , breeches. †tubroces [l. tribraces] vel ~e, strapulas Ælf. Gl.; laneis utuntur seu ~is caligatis seu caligis braccatis Gir. TH III 10; 1275 ipsum ‥ de cubili suo nudum preter camisium et ~as ejecerunt CourtR Wakefield I 57; 1279 nudus et discalciatus, ~is dumtaxat retentis, ‥ incedat (Lit. Papae) Reg. Ebor. 38; 1306 invenit eundem Stephanum supratrabentem ~as suas Mayor’s CourtR Lond. H m. 7b; 1310 dictum fuit ei quod, depositis bracciis verteret dorsum ad crucifixum (Acta contra Templar.) Conc. II 359; s1365 inventa fuit una de suis capsellis plena ‥ camisiis et ~is cilicinis Hist. Durh. 128; 1433 lego ‥ unam camisiam cum uno pari ~arum Reg. Cant. II 470; ~e, brechys WW.

BRACAE

BRACAE(ἀναξυρίδες, θύλακοι), trowsers, pantaloons. These, as well as various other articles of armour and of dress [ACINACES, ARCUS, ARMILLA ], were common to all the nations which encircled the Greek and Roman population, extending from the Indian to the Atlantic ocean. Hence Aristagoras, king of Miletus, in his interview with Cleomenes, king of Sparta, described the attire of the barbarians in these terms: They carry bows and a short spear, and go to battle in trowsers and with hats upon their heads. (Hdt. 5.49.) Hence also the phrase Bracati militis arcus, signifying that those who wore trowsers were in general armed with the bow. (Propert. 3.3, 17. Cf. Eur. Cycl. 182; Cic. Fam. 9.1. 5, 2, in Pis. 23.53; Verg. A. 11.777; Ov. Tr. 4.6, 47, 5.7-Z2, 49, 10, 34; Juven. 8.254.) In particular, we are informed of the use of trowsers or pantaloons among the following nations :--The Medes and Persians; the Parthians; the Phrygians; the Sacae; the Sarmatae; the Dacians and Getae; the Teutones; the Belgae; the Britons; and the Gauls.

The Latin word bracae of Celtic origin is connected with the Scottish breeks and the English breeches. Corresponding terms are used in all the Northern languages. Also the Cossack and Persian trowsers of the present day differ in no material respect from those which were anciently worn in the same countries. In ancient monuments we find the above-mentioned people constantly exhibited in trowsers, thus clearly distinguishing them from Greeks and Romans. An example is seen in the annexed group of

Sarmatians, taken from the Column of Trajan, wearing the loose trowsers (bracae laxae) which the Greeks called θύλακοι, and another example is given of a Scythian under ARCUSp. 170 b.

The tighter form of ἀναξυπίδες is exemplified in the annexed figure of a Persian prince at the battle of Issues, from the mosaic at Pompeii.

The reason for this distinction is to be found in the necessities of climate. Thus Roman soldiers fighting in the north of Europe were obliged to assume this barbarian garment, and we see the Roman soldiers and officers engaged in the wars on the Danube represented on the Column of Trajan as wearing short bracae. In the cut given in the next column, they are supported by a sash round the waist. In the reliefs on Constantine's arch which date from that emperor's own times, we see the Roman soldiers wearing trowsers exactly like those of the Sarmatians figured above. At first however, on quitting these northern countries, the Romans gladly abandoned the bracae, and Caecina (A.D. 69) gave great offence on his march into Italy by wearing what was regarded as a tegmen barbarum (Tac. Hist. 2.20). But in the second century they appear to have been worn at Rome, although the use of them in the city was forbidden by Honorius (A.D. 397; Cod. Theod. 14.10, 3; Lamprid. Alex. Sever. 40).

Trowsers were principally woollen; but Agathias states (Hist. 2.5) that in [Europe they were also made of linen and of leather; probably the Asiatics made them of cotton and of silk. Sometimes they were embroidered (pictae, Val. Fl. 6.227) as in the figure of the Persian prince above, or striped (virqatae, Propert. 4.11, 43) and ornamented with a woof of various colours (ποικίλαι, Xen. Anab. 1.5, § 8; Eur. l. c.). The Greeks seem never to have worn them. In the next century, however, they gradually came into use at Rome; but they would appear never to have been generally worn. It is recorded of Alexander Severus that he wore white bracae, and not crimson ones (coccineae), as had been the custom with peceding emperors.

Mela (2.1) describes the Satarchae as bracati totum corpus, by which phrase he seems to indicate a single garment which served for a jacket to the body as well as trowsers for the legs. The Amazons are often represented as wearing such a dress (Winckelmann, Mon. Ined. 149).

Gallia bracata was a name given to what afterwards became Gallia Narbonensis, because the inhabitants wore bracae (Mel. 2.59; Plin. Nat.3.31); and bracatus as opposed to togatus often expresses the distinction between Gallia transalpina and the countries east of the Alps.

Bracarius, properly a breeches-maker (Lampr. Alex. Sev. 24) came to be used for a tailor in general (Diocl. Edict. 7.42).

[J.Y] [J.H.F]

Bracae

(ἀναξυρίδες, θύλακοι). Trousers; pantaloons. These were common to all the nations that encircled the Greek and Roman population, extending from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean. Hence Aristagoras, king of Miletus, in his interview with Cleomenes, king of Sparta, described the attire of a large portion of them in these terms: “They carry bows and a short spear, and go to battle in trousers and with hats upon their heads.” Hence, also, the phrase bracati militis arcus, implying that those who wore trousers were in general armed with the bow. In particular, we are informed of the use of trousers or pantaloons among the following nations: (1) The Medes and Persians (περὶ τὰ σκέλεα ἀναξυρίδας).

(2) The Parthians and Armenians.

(3) The Phrygians.

(4) The Sacae.

(5) The Sarmatae.

(6) The Dacians and Getae.

(7) The Teutones.

(8) The Franks.

(9) The Belgae.

(10) The Britons (veteres bracae Britonis pauperis).

(11) The Gauls (Gallia Bracata, now Provence; sagatos bracatosque; χρῶνται ἀναξυρίσι, ἃς ἐκεῖνοι βράκας προσαγορεύουσι).

The Gallic term “brakes,” which Diodorus Siculus has preserved in the last-cited passage (lv. 30), also survives in the Scottish “breeks” and the English “breeches.” Corresponding terms are used in all the Northern languages. (See Skeat, Etymolog. Dict. s. v. “Breeches.”) The Cossack and Persian trousers of the present day differ in no material respect from those which were anciently worn in the same countries.

In conformity with the preceding list of testimonies, the monuments of every kind which contain representations of the nations included in it, exhibit them in trousers, thus clearly distinguishing them from Greeks and Romans. An example is seen in the annexed group of Sarmatians, taken from the Column of Trajan.

The proper bracae of the Eastern and Northern nations were loose (κεχαλασμέναι, laxae), and they are therefore very aptly, though ludicrously, described in Euripides as “variegated bags” (τοὺς θυλάκους τοὺς ποικίλους). To the Greeks they must have appeared highly ridiculous, although Ovid mentions the adoption of them by the descendants of some of the Greek colonists on the Euxine (Trist. v. 11, 34).

Trousers were principally woollen; but Agathias states that in Europe they were also made of linen and of leather; probably the Asiatics made them of cotton and of silk. Sometimes they were striped (virgatae), ornamented with a woof of various colours.

Roman soldiers fighting in the North were obliged to wear them, owing to the severity of the climate; and by the second century they were worn even at Rome. The emperor Alexander Severus wore white bracae; some of his predecessors, scarlet ones (coccineae).

Bracarius, meaning properly a breeches-maker (Lamprid. Alex. Sever. 24), came to be used of a tailor in general.