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Article RISE AND FALL OF BEARDS. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Rise And Fall Of Beards.
hot iron . There are abundance in that country who would prefer death to this kiild of punishment . The Arabs make the preservation of their beards a capital point of religion , because Mahomet never cut his . Hence the razor is never drawn over the Grand Signior ' s face . The Persians , who clip them , and shave above the jaw , are reputed heretics . It is likewise a mark cf authority and liberty among them , as well as among the Turks . They who serve in the seragliohave
, their beards shaven , as a sign of their servitude . They do not suffer it to grow till the sultan has set them at liberty , which : s bestowed as a reward upon them , and is always accompanied with some employment . The most celebrated ancient writers , and several modern ones , have spoken honourably of the fine beards of antiquity ' . Homer
Speaks highly of the white beard of Nestor , and that of old king Priam . Virgil describes Mezentius ' s to us , which was so thick and long as to cover ait his breast ; Chrysippus praises the noble beard of Timothy , a famous player on the flute . Pliny the younger tells us of the white beard of Euphrates , a Syrian philosopher ; and he takes pleasure in relating the respect mixed with fear with which it inspired
the people . Plutarch speaks of the long white beard of an old Laconian , who , being asked why he let it grow so , replied ; " Tis that , seeing continually my white beard , I may do nothing unworthy of its whiteness . " Strabo relates , that the Indian philosophers , the
Gymnosophists , were particularly attentive to make the length of their beards contribute to captivate the veneration of the people . Diodorus , after him , gives a very particular and circumstantial history of the beards of the Indians . Juvenal does not forget that of Antilochus , the son of Nestor . Fenelon , in describing a priest of Apollo , in all his magnificence , tell us , that he had a white beard down to his girdle . But Peisius seems to outdo all these authors : this poet was
so convinced that a beard was the symbol of wisdom , that he thought he could not bestow a greater encomium on the divine Socrates , than by-calling him the bearded master , magistrum barbatum . While the Gauls were under their sovereignty , none but the nobles - and Christian priests were permitted to wear long beards . The Franks , having made themselves masters of Gaul , assumed the same
authority as the Romans : the bondsmen were expressly ordered to shave their chins ' ; and this law continued in force until the entire abolishment of servitude in France . So likewise , in the time of the first race of kings , a long beard was a sign of nobility and freedom . The kings , as being the highest nobles in their kingdom , were emulous likewise to have the'largest beards : Eginard , secretary to
Charlemain , speaking of the last-kings of the first race , says , they came to the assemblies in the Field of Mars in a carriage drawn by oxen , and sat on the throne with their hair dishevelled , and a very long beard , crine profuso , barba submissa , solio -residerunt , ut speciem dominantis-effingerent . To touch any one ' s beard , or cut off a bit of it , was , among the first French , the most sacred pledge of protection and confidence ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Rise And Fall Of Beards.
hot iron . There are abundance in that country who would prefer death to this kiild of punishment . The Arabs make the preservation of their beards a capital point of religion , because Mahomet never cut his . Hence the razor is never drawn over the Grand Signior ' s face . The Persians , who clip them , and shave above the jaw , are reputed heretics . It is likewise a mark cf authority and liberty among them , as well as among the Turks . They who serve in the seragliohave
, their beards shaven , as a sign of their servitude . They do not suffer it to grow till the sultan has set them at liberty , which : s bestowed as a reward upon them , and is always accompanied with some employment . The most celebrated ancient writers , and several modern ones , have spoken honourably of the fine beards of antiquity ' . Homer
Speaks highly of the white beard of Nestor , and that of old king Priam . Virgil describes Mezentius ' s to us , which was so thick and long as to cover ait his breast ; Chrysippus praises the noble beard of Timothy , a famous player on the flute . Pliny the younger tells us of the white beard of Euphrates , a Syrian philosopher ; and he takes pleasure in relating the respect mixed with fear with which it inspired
the people . Plutarch speaks of the long white beard of an old Laconian , who , being asked why he let it grow so , replied ; " Tis that , seeing continually my white beard , I may do nothing unworthy of its whiteness . " Strabo relates , that the Indian philosophers , the
Gymnosophists , were particularly attentive to make the length of their beards contribute to captivate the veneration of the people . Diodorus , after him , gives a very particular and circumstantial history of the beards of the Indians . Juvenal does not forget that of Antilochus , the son of Nestor . Fenelon , in describing a priest of Apollo , in all his magnificence , tell us , that he had a white beard down to his girdle . But Peisius seems to outdo all these authors : this poet was
so convinced that a beard was the symbol of wisdom , that he thought he could not bestow a greater encomium on the divine Socrates , than by-calling him the bearded master , magistrum barbatum . While the Gauls were under their sovereignty , none but the nobles - and Christian priests were permitted to wear long beards . The Franks , having made themselves masters of Gaul , assumed the same
authority as the Romans : the bondsmen were expressly ordered to shave their chins ' ; and this law continued in force until the entire abolishment of servitude in France . So likewise , in the time of the first race of kings , a long beard was a sign of nobility and freedom . The kings , as being the highest nobles in their kingdom , were emulous likewise to have the'largest beards : Eginard , secretary to
Charlemain , speaking of the last-kings of the first race , says , they came to the assemblies in the Field of Mars in a carriage drawn by oxen , and sat on the throne with their hair dishevelled , and a very long beard , crine profuso , barba submissa , solio -residerunt , ut speciem dominantis-effingerent . To touch any one ' s beard , or cut off a bit of it , was , among the first French , the most sacred pledge of protection and confidence ,