Sizing up the Philosopher's Cloak

In his work On the Pallium, the third-century North African Christian Tertullian posed a question to his toga-clad audience: “How do you feel in a toga: dressed or oppressed? Is it like wearing clothes or bearing them?” ¹ In defense of his decision to doff the toga and don the pallium, Tertullian contrasted two commonly worn male garments. The toga was the emblematic Roman garb, the formal public attire of the citizen. The pallium, on the other hand, was associated with careers in education and oratory, posts often held by non-citizen Greeks. The toga was oblong and meticulously draped in a nexus of folds, almost ceremoniously, with the help of a slave. The pallium, by contrast, was rectangular and lighter; it simply wrapped around the waist and draped over the left shoulder. Originating in the Greek world, and called a himation, it was ordinary male clothing. When it became “worn out” (from the Greek: τρίβω) through exposure to the elements and constant wear, the Greeks also called it a tribōn. ² Tertullian’s declaration that “there is nothing so convenient as the pallium,” spoke not only to the garment’s practicality and comfort when compared to the toga, but also to the political and social meanings interwoven into the two garments. ³