Toga

Toga (from Lat. tego, 'I cover'), the principal outer garment of the Romans, was a thick woollen cloth, originally worn over a loin-cloth or apron. When the tunic was adopted the toga became more bulky and was worn in a looser manner. It was probably of Etruscan origin, and yet it came to be considered the distinctive badge of the Roman citizen, whence the Roman people are called togati or gens togata. Scholars are divided as to its shape, some making it elliptical with pointed ends, while others declare that the most usual form was a crescent, the back of which was an elliptical curve with a circular segment of cloth sewn on to its concave side. The toga of ordinary life was white in colour. The toga prætexta had a broad purple border, and was worn by children and by the curule magistrates and censors. When the young Roman was declared to be legally of age he assumed the ordinary toga, on this account called the toga virilis. Persons in mourning (sordidati) and persons under impeachment wore the toga pulla, a garment of a dark colour; while those who were seeking office were wont to dress themselves out in garments which had been made artificially bright by the help of chalk—hence their name of candidati. Under the emperors the toga as an article of common wear fell into disuse; but it continued to be worn by magistrates and people on all official occasions.