they are fast
disappearing. Two thousand years will have worn out and effaced these
customs, and our children will not see them.

I have not space to linger over the many descriptions of Oriental,
Grecian, and Roman work to be gathered from classical authors, but
from them this lesson is to be learned that the first principle which
guided those great decorators was the individuality and
appropriateness of each design to the purpose for which it was
intended and the place it was to fill. But even their peculiar
excellences did not save them from the universal law of destruction.
When the hangings were worn, or became for any reason distasteful,
they were replaced by others, often by gifts or spoils from friendly
allies or conquered kings. The quantity of gold laid upon these great
religious or national works was the cause of their destruction as soon
as they were withdrawn and superseded by something of a newer fashion.
The intrinsic value in precious metals of such works is proved by
Pliny's statement that Nero gave four millions of sesterces for covers
of couches in a banqueting-hall.[452] The hangings or carpets taken by
the Caliph Omar from Kosroes' white palace (A.D. 651) must have been
some of the finest and most valuable embroideries ever known. They
formed a tapestry carpet or hanging, representing all the flowers of
spring, worked in coloured silks, gold, and precious stones. Kosroes
entreated Omar to keep it intact for himself, but he was so virtuous
that he cut it up into little bits and divided it amongst his
generals. Gibbon describes this wonderful piece of work.[453] We have
heard much of a marvellous carpet, given lately by the Guicowar of
Baroda to the tomb of Mahomet at Medina, which, from its description,
recalls the style of Kosroes' hangings; and their history gives us a
notable instance of how works of art in the time of war and conquest
come to be considered only for the value of their materials. War, the
enemy of culture, all but effaces whole phases of art when a country
is overrun and plundered. But there is almost always a residuum, which
has influence whenever there is a revival, beginning with the smaller
arts of luxury in more peaceful and prosperous days.[454]

To return to the classical veils and hangings. You may see them on
Babylonian bas-reliefs, on Greek fictile vases, or painted in frescoes
on the walls of Egyptian tombs and temples; in the houses in Pompeii
and Herculaneum, and in