was the fashion adopted
in early times when fighting was in prospect, the end of the _toga_ was
drawn tightly round the waist and formed a kind of girdle; this was
retained in certain official functions, such as the opening of the
temple of Janus in historical times.[28] In time of peace the _toga_ was
wrapped round the right arm, leaving the hand only free, much after the
fashion of the Greek _himation_, and thrown over the left shoulder so as
to fall down behind (see ROMAN ART, Plate II., fig. 11, male figure to
r.); or, if greater freedom were desired, it was passed under the right
arm-pit. In religious ceremonies, the magistrate presiding at the
sacrifice drew the back of the toga over his head; see in the same
illustration the priest with veiled head, _ritu Gabino_, who also wears
his _toga_ with the _cinctus Gabinus_. Towards the end of the republic a
new fashion was generally adopted. A considerable length of the toga was
allowed to hang from the left shoulder; the remainder was passed round
the body so as to rise like a baldric (_balteus_) from the right hip to
the left shoulder, being folded over in front (the fold was called
sinus), then brought round the back of the neck so that the end fell
over the right shoulder; the hanging portion on the left side was drawn
up through the _sinus_, and bulged out in an _umbo_ (Plate, fig. 24).
Later still, this portion, instead of forming a bundle of folds in the
centre, was carefully folded over and carried up over the left shoulder,
and in course of time these folds were carefully arranged in several
thicknesses resembling boards, _tabulae_, hence called _contabulatio_
(Plate, fig. 23). Yet another fashion was that adopted by the flamens,
who passed the right-hand portion of the _toga_ over the right shoulder
and arm and back over the left shoulder, so that it hung down in a curve
over the front of the body; the upper edge was folded over. The flamens
are thus represented on the Ara Pacis Augustae.

The plain white toga (_toga pura_) was the ordinary dress of the
citizen, but the _toga praetexta_, which had a border of purple, was
worn by boys till the age of sixteen, when they assumed the plain _toga
virilis_, and also by curule magistrates and some priests. A purple toga
with embroidery (_toga picta_) was worn together with a gold-embroidered
tunic (_tunica palmata_) by generals while celebrating a triumph and by
magistrates presiding at games; it represented the trad