“And eke to this avow I wol me bind,
My Berd, my here that hangeth low adoun,
That never yet felt non offensioun
Of rasour, ne of shere, I wol thee yeve.”
Shaving in token of grief was the custom of the early Romans; when,
however, that which had been considered a deprivation became a general
fashion, the Beard was allowed to grow in time of sorrow, to denote
personal neglect.
The Roman Philosophers, like the Greek, cherished a long Beard as the
emblem of wisdom. The following anecdote shews that it was sometimes a
fallacious sign. One of the Emperors being pestered by a man in a long
robe and Beard, asked him what he was. “Do you not see that I am a
philosopher?” was the reply. “The cloak I see, and the Beard I see,”
said the Emperor, “but the philosopher, where is he?”
I must not conclude this notice of Roman customs without mentioning the
instructive fact, that the slaves of the early Romans were shaved as a
mark of servitude, and not allowed to wear the distinctive sign of a
free man until emancipated. At a later period the slaves, as the most
manly, wore the Beard, and only shaved when entitled to be put on a
level with their debased and vicious masters!
[Illustration]
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