med, when the youth came
to man's estate, or the age of seventeen years. On that occasion the
friends of the young man conducted him to the _forum_ (or sometimes to
the capitol), and there invested him with the new gown. This was
called _dies tirocinii_; the day on which he commenced a _tiro_, or a
candidate for preferment in the army. The _laticlave_, was an
additional honour often granted at the same time. The sons of senators
and patricians were entitled to that distinction, as a matter of
right: but the young men, descended from such as were not patricians,
did not wear the _laticlave_, till they entered into the service of
the commonwealth, and undertook the functions of the civil magistracy.
Augustus Caesar changed that custom. He gave leave to the sons of
senators, in general, to assume the _laticlave_ presently after the
time of putting on the _toga virilis_, though they were not capable of
civil honours. The emperors who succeeded, allowed the same privilege,
as a favour to illustrious families. _Ovid_ speaks of himself and his
brother assuming the _manly gown_ and the _laticlave_ at the same
time:

Interea, tacito passu labentibus annis,
Liberior fratri sumpta mihique toga;
Induiturque humeris cum lato purpura clavo.

Pliny the younger shews, that the _laticlave_ was a favour granted by
the emperor on particular occasions. He says, he applied for his
friend, and succeeded: _Ego Sexto latumclavum a Caesare nostro
impetravi._ Lib. ii. epist. 9. The _latusclavus_ was a robe worn by
consuls, praetors, generals in triumph, and senators, who were called
_laticlavii_. Their sons were admitted to the same honour; but the
emperors had a power to bestow this garment of distinction, and all
privileges belonging to it, upon such as they thought worthy of that
honour. This is what Marcus Aper says, in the Dialogue, that he
obtained; and, when the translation mentions the _manly gown_, the
expression falls short of the speaker's idea. Dacier has given an
account of the _laticlave_, which has been well received by the
learned. He tells us, that whatever was made to be put on another
thing, was called _clavus_, not because it had any resemblance to a
nail, but because it was made an adjunct to another subject. In fact,
the _clavi_ were purple galloons, with which the Romans bordered the
fore part of the tunic, on both sides, and when drawn close together,
they formed an ornament in the middle of the vestme