The Gauls, commanded by Brennus, had just taken Rome by assault.[[10]] The senators, sitting, each at the door of his house, in their curule chairs, awaited death with that coolness and resolution so natural to these high spirited republicans. Their majestic looks and long white beards so astonished these fierce conquerors, that their rage for carnage gave place to admiration: all of a sudden they were struck motionless with astonishment; their arms fell from their hands. The Romans however continuing to preserve a grave and silent countenance, a Gaul, enraged to see the slaughter suspended by the sight of a long beard, boldly advanced, (as if to break the spell which deprived his countrymen of their wonted fierceness) and laid hold of that of an old man, who, shocked at the soldier’s audacity, knocked him on the head with his ivory rod. This stroke of the ivory rod destroyed the illusion, and became the signal of the massacre.[[11]]
[10]. Anno 365.
[11]. Ex Livio, Decade 1o. lib. 5.
The beard was likewise very much esteemed among the old Romans; and even when they adopted, through effeminacy, the custom of shaving, they preserved the most religious respect for this mark of manhood. The first shaving of a young man was done with the greatest ceremony, and these first fruits of the chin were carefully collected in a gold or silver box, in order to be afterwards presented to some God, as a tribute of youth; this pious offering was mostly made to Jupiter Capitolinus.
While the Gauls were under the sovereignty of the Romans, 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 ’till 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 beard: 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, barbâ submissâ, solio residerent, & 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. For a long time all letters, that came from the sovereign, had, for greater sanction, three hairs of his beard in the seal. There is still in being a charter of 1121, which concludes with the following words: Quod ut ratum & stabile perseveret in posterum, præsenti scripto sigilli mei robur apposui cum tribus pilis barbæ meæ.
Of all the people in the world, the Orientals seem to be those who have the most constantly worn long beards: several nations shaved when in mourning, such as the Syrians and Persians. Beards were, and still are at this day, under the controul of religious usages. Zingzon affirms, that the manner of wearing the beard is an essential point in the religion of the Tartars; that they call the Persians schismatics, because they have abated their rigour to such a degree as to arrange their beards in a manner directly contrary to the rite of the Tartars; he adds, that this dangerous heresy was the cause of a bloody war between these two nations.
All the world knows that the most dreadful oath among the Mahometans is to swear by the beard of their prophet. It is said in baron Tott’s memoirs, that the first care of an Ottoman monarch, on his ascending the throne, is to let his beard grow out: the Tartarian princes follow the same custom. The same writer observes, that sultan Mustapha III. was not satisfied with letting his grow out, but that he stained it black, in order that it might be more conspicuous the first day of his going out. The princes, kept prisoners in the seraglio, wear only whiskers, as likewise all the young people, who don’t think themselves fit to wear a whole beard ’till the age of maturity, and this is what they commonly call becoming prudent.
Several great men have honoured themselves with the surname of Bearded. The emperor Constantine is distinguished by the epithet of Pogonate, which signifies the Bearded. In the time of the crusades, we find there was a Geffrey the Bearded: Baldwin IV. earl of Flanders, was surnamed Handsome-beard;[[12]] and, in the illustrious house of Montmorenci, there was a famous Bouchard, who took a pride in the surname of Bearded: he was always the declared enemy of the monks, without doubt because of their being shaved.[[13]]
[12]. This Baldwin, in a charter of Robert king of France, in the year 1023, is called Honesta Barba.