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Martial speaks of a servant carrying the Parasol: "Umbellam lusca, Lygde feras Dominæ." Juvenal mentions an Umbrella as a present: Ovid advises a lover to make himself agreeable by holding his mistress's Parasol: "Ipse tene distenta suis umbracula virgis" Ov. Ars. This shows that the Umbrella was of much the same construction as ours.
We find frequent reference to the Umbrella in the Roman Classics, and it appears that it was, not unlikely, a post of honour among maid-servants to bear it over their mistresses. Allusions to it are tolerably frequent in the poets. Ovid speaks of Hercules carrying the Parasol of Omphale: "Aurea pellebant rapidos umbracula soles, Quæ tamen Herculeæ sustinuere manus." Ov.
"Accipe quæ nimios vincant umbracula soles, Sit licet, et ventus, te tua vela tegont." By tua vela is to be understood "your own Umbrella." And elsewhere the same writer gives the advice: "Ingrediare viam coelo licet usque sereno Ad subitas nunquam scortea desit aquas." Man'., lib. xiv.
"Neu defensura calorem Aurea submoveant rapidos umbracula soles." Claud., lib. viii., De. iv. cons. From this we may conclude that the carrying an Umbrella was in some sort a mark of effeminacy. In another place carrying the Umbrella is alluded to as one of the duties of a slave:
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