Beards?

For centuries Romans prided themselves on their clean faces and well groomed hair. Barbarians were also known as "barber rosa", red beards, scruffy unkempt and rather smelly creatures soon to be under the heels of the Romans. The exceptions were the Greeks, appreciated for their intellect and education as well as their beards.

Then along came Hadrian, the first Roman Emperor with a beard. Wall and all, Hadrian managed to expand the empire. He was followed, with a few in between, by Marcus Aurelius, who was full bearded and wrote in Greek. Hadrian had his beard to hide a bad case of acne, Marcus to emulate the Greeks.

Thus one wonders the cause for the current phase of hirsute existence among the many. Razors invented as safety razors at the turn of the nineteenth century did away with a variety of facial hair, but today with a variety of facial cleaning methods we have not the beards of the 60s hippies but of the three day drinking binge.

Now Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius had good beards, they portrayed strength and vigor. One wonders what these half shaven par venues see in this presentation. What would Hadrian think?