curtain Copy link Outline I. As furniture generally1. aulaeum (rare in sing.2. plăgŭla (for beds, litters, and the like)3. vēlumII. In a theatre1. aulaeum (in this sense, either sing. or pl.)2. sīpārium (the drop-sceneIII. In fortification • curtain: I. As furniture generally: 1. aulaeum (rare in sing.: usu. of a splendid kind; as in palaces, etc.): c.s (for a couch) gleaming with purple and gold, a. purpura auroque fulgentia, Curt.: Virg.: Hor. 2. plăgŭla (for beds, litters, and the like): Liv.: Suet. 3. vēlum: to draw c.s [backwards or forwards], vela obducere, reducere, Plin. Ep. 2, 17, 21: hanging c.s, pendentia v., Juv. Also in sing., (my wife) separated from me only by a c., discreta velo, Plin. Ep. 4, 19, 3. Adj. vēlāris, e: Plin. II. In a theatre: 1. aulaeum (in this sense, either sing. or pl.): the c. rises, a. tollitur, Cic.; subducitur, Apul.: the c. falls, a. premuntur, Hor.; mittuntur, Phaedr. (but with the ancients the curtain was drawn up from below; so that the above expressions have the opposite meaning in Latin). 2. sīpārium (the drop-scene: cf. Apul. 10, ad fin. "aulaeo subducto et complicitis sipariis:" in which sense aulaeum appears also to be used, cf. Ov. 3, 111): Cic.: Juv. (N.B. Never velum in this sense: v. awning.) III. In fortification: perh. *murus intergerīvus: cf. Plin. 35, 14, 49.