The paenula was a cloak worn by the Romans, akin to the poncho of the modern Spaniards and Spanish Americans (i.e. a large piece of material with a hole for the head to go through, hanging in ample folds round the body). This was originally worn only by slaves, soldiers and other people of low degree; in the 3rd century, however, it was adopted by fashionable people as a convenient riding or travelling cloak; and finally, by the sumptuary law of 382 (Cod. Theod. xiv. 10, r, de habitu. intra urbem) it was prescribed as the proper everyday dress of senators, instead of the military chlamys, the toga being reserved for state occasions.

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.