236 flint's nattjeai histoet. [BookVII. 



CHAP. 58. (57.) THE THTNGS ABOTTT WHICH MANKIND ITKST OP 



AEl AGKEED. THE ANCIENT rEIIEES. 



There was at the very earliest™ period a tacit consent among 

 all nations to adopt the letters now used by the lonians.®" 

 (58.) That the ancient Greek letters were almost the same 

 with the modem Latin," is proved by the ancient Delphic 

 inscription on copper, which is now in the Palatine library, 

 having been dedicated by the emperors to Minerva ; this in- 

 scription is as foUowB : 



NATSIKPATHS ANE0ETO THI AI02 KOPHI. 



[" Nausicrates offered this to the daughter of. Zeus."]'' 



CHAP. 59. (59.) ^WHEJT BAEBEES WEEE ITRST EMPLOYED.*' 



The next point upon which all nations appear to have 

 agreed, was the employment of barbers." The Romans, how- 

 ever, were more tardy in the adoption of their services. 

 According to Varro, they were introduced into Italy from 



™ Herodotus, B. v. c 69, says that the Phoenician letters were very 

 similar to the Ionian ; and we are informed hy Hardouin, that Scaliger, in 

 his Dissertation upon an ancient inscription on a column discovered in the 

 Via Appia, and removed to the Faruese Gardens, has proved that the 

 lonians horrowed their letters from the Phoenicians. — B. 



60 Herodotus confirms this opinion by a reference to an ancient tripod at 

 Thebes, written in what he terms Cadmseau letters, having a strong resem- 

 blance to those used by the lonians. — B. 



61 Tacitus, Ann. B. ix. c. 14, says, " The Latin letjers have the same 

 form as the most ancient Greek ones." — B. 



6* There is scarcely a letter of this inscription which has not been con- 

 troverted, and no two editions hardly agree. — B. 



6' Probably the earliest existing reference to the practice of shaving is 

 in Genesis, xli. 14, where Joseph is said to have shaved and changed 

 his raiment, when brought from prison into the presence of Pharaoh ; in 

 this case, we may presume that it was the head, and perhaps not the beard, 

 which was shaven. — B. 



6* The ancients had two methods otf arranging the beard ; in one it was 

 cut close to the skin, in the other it was trimmed by means of a comb, and 

 left of a certain length. These two methods are alluded to by Plautus, 

 Capt. ii. 2, 16 :-;-B. " Now the old fellow is in the barber's shop ; at this 

 very instant is the other handling the razor — but whether to say that he is 

 going to shave him close, or to trim him through the comb, I know not." 



