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.
CURTAIN Copy link • CURTAIN 1. s. velum (general term for any piece of cloth or stuff, that is hung or spread before anything; e.g., bed-curtain, curtain before a door): plagula (curtain spread over a bed, a sedan-chair, etc.): aulaeum (ἡ αὐλαία, a splendidly wrought curtain, especially to draw before or to spread over a bed, e.g., lectus aulaeis obductus [after Curt. 8, 5, 21] then = curtain before the stage in the theatre, which was let down at the beginning of the piece [mittitur, premitur aulaeum], and drawn up at the end of it [tollitur aulaeum]; compare Schmid, Hor., Ep., 2, 1, 189): to draw the curtains round anything, velis aliquid obtendere: to draw or pull down the curtains, vela obducere: to open or draw the curtains, vela reducere. Term in fortification, murus intergerinus. A curtain lecture, *uxoria admonitio or objurgatio: *uxoris nocturna objurgatio: to read a husband a curtain-lecture, maritum graviter monere. 2. v. Vid. CURTAIN, subst.