MUSTAX
MUSTAX (
μύσταξ), moustaches. The
different parts of the beard [
BARBA] had different names, which also varied with its age and
appearance. The young beard, first appearing on the upper lip, was called
ὑπήνη or
ὑπήνη
πρώτη (
Diod. 5.28; Philostr. Sen.
Imag. 1.30, 2.7, 9), and the youth just arrived at
puberty, who was graced with it, was
πρῶτον
ὑπηνήτης. (
Hom. Il. 24.348,
Od. 10.279; Schol.
in loc.; Brunck,
Anal. 3.44; Aelian,
Ael. VH 10.18.) By its growth and development
it produced the moustaches, which the Greeks generally cherished as a manly
ornament. (Theocrit. 14.4; Antiphanes, ap.
Ath.
4.21; Pollux, 2.80, 10.120;
Aristoph.
Lys. 1072;
Vesp. 476.) To this practice, however,
there seems to have been one exception. The Spartan
EPHORI when they were inducted, made a proclamation
requiring the people “to shave their moustaches and obey the
laws.” (
Plut. Cleom. 9.) For what
reason they gave the former command does not appear, nor how it is to be
reconciled with the passages cited from Aristophanes and Antiphanes, unless
we understand it to refer to the young only, which the succeeding sentence
seems to imply. (Proclus
in Hes.
Op. et
Dies, 722; Müller,
Dor.
3.7.7, 4.2.5; Becker-Göll,
Charikles, iii. p. 296.)
[
J.Y] [
G.E.M]
