Note 2619 — Chapter XIII · EXPORTS FROM AFRICA AND THE EAST.

Athen. v. 26. Cf. Plut. Agesil. § 12. We still find that, for richness of colouring and softness of texture, the carpets of Persia are quite unrivalled. Fowler, Three Years in Persia, i. 81. Gibbon, in his rich and picturesque style, has given a description of one of these carpets found by the Arabs in the dwelling of the Persian monarch: “One of the apartments of the palace was decorated with a carpet of of silk, sixty cubits in length, and as many in breadth; a paradise or garden was depicted on the ground; the flowers, fruits and shrubs were imitated by the figures of the gold embroidery and the colours of the precious stones, and the ample square was enriched by a variegated and verdant border.” Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. ix. p. 370.