The Philosophy of Beards.
37
presented his in a golden box, set with jewels, to the Capitoline Jupiter.[1]
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.
- ↑ Arcite in Chaucer's Knight's Tale thus devotes his Beard to Mars:—
"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."
