2,500 years doesn’t make a vanity smack-down less potent.
17th Century, A.D.
Adam (Paradise Lost, Bk 4, 300-03):
His fair large Front and Eye sublime declar’d
Absolute rule; and Hyacinthin Locks
Round from his parted forelock manly hung
Clustring, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
Uriel (Book 3, 636-42)
And now a stripling Cherube he appeers,
Not of the prime, yet such as in his face
Youth smil’d Celestial, and to every Limb
Sutable grace diffus’d, so well he feignd;
Under a Coronet his flowing haire
In curles on either cheek plaid, wings he wore
Of many a colourd plume sprinkl’d with Gold,
7th Century, B.C.
Archilochos, (Fragments trs. by Guy Davenport):
What hair styles among
All this jackass backsided
Sabazian pederasty. (8)Sabazians
Of the
Elegant
Hair (158)I despise to see a tall,
Swaggering general
With a beard of curls
Give me an officer
Who’s short and bow legged
With his feet planted well apart
(282)
