Note 335 — Part 5.
Reading edition
Yates, “Textrinum Antiquorum,” p. 373, translates from Publius Syrus the word plumata, “feathered.” The word “embroidered” would have here improved the sense, even though it is a peacock that is described.
“Thy food the peacock, which displays his spotted train, As shines a Babylonian shawl with feather’d gold.”
He also quotes Lucan, who is praising the furnishings of Cleopatra’s palace: “Part shines with feathered gold; part sheds a blaze of scarlet.”—Yates, p. 373.