Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Mamillare

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

MAMILLA'RE (ἀπόδεσμος). A bosom band; made of soft leather (Mart. xiv. 66.), and intended to elevate or confine the bust when inclined to excessive development. It is not to be regarded as precisely similar to the modern stays; for it was not intended to compress the figure into an unnatural appearance of slimness, nor was it worn by every female, but only where the extreme fulness of the person rendered such a restraint necessary. It is very apparent in the annexed illustration (Mamillare/1.1), from a Pompeian painting believed to represent Sophonisba; it is worn under the tunic and next the skin, while the ample bust of the African beauty, pointedly expressed by the artist, indicates at once the necessity for it, and its use.

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  Mamillare/1.1