The barbers, who, both in locality and repute, were next-door neighbours to the perfumers, enjoyed much the same sort of reputation as they do in modern times. In their shops scandal was fabricated, and news, good and bad, put into circulation. It was at a barber’s in the Peiræeus that some stranger first disclosed the intelligence of the defeat in Sicily, thereby bringing the longue-tongued shaver into the greatest trouble; for as he straightway ran up to the city and gave vent to the evil tidings, he was apprehended and put to the torture, in order to discover the real author of what was supposed to be an atrocious fabrication.[732] But that which sometimes thus brought them into straits, proved most commonly a source of profit, since to hear their laughable stories and anecdotes many more persons congregated under their roofs than stood in need of new wigs or curling-irons,[733] and probably got shaved by way of compliment to the master of the house. Such of them as were remarkably unskilful sought to make up for their awkwardness[734] by the number and elegance of their razors, and the large size of their mirrors.[735] But it was not, we are told, unfrequent for men to get shaved by some humble practitioner,[736] with one razor and a cunning hand, and afterwards to lounge into the more dashing shops, to put their curls in order before the large mirrors which adorned the walls.[737] ----- Footnote 732: Plut. Nic. § 30. Footnote 733: These irons were heated in the ashes. Pignor. de Servis, p. 194. Cf. Poll. ii. 31. Footnote 734: Luc. adv. Indoct. § 29. In Asia Minor, where numbers of ancient customs still linger, congealed blood is often used for shaving instead of soap. Chandler, i. 96. Can this practice plead a classical origin? Footnote 735: Cf. Artemid. Oneirocrit. ii. 7. p. 88. Gitone, Il Costume Antico e Moderno di tutti i Popoli, t. i. p. 24. Tav. 15. Footnote 736: We learn from an anecdote of Crates, that these barbers, like their descendants in modern times, were accustomed to envelope their patients in linen or cotton cloths. The Cynic, thinking proper one day to walk the streets in his shirt, was reprimanded by the Astynomos. “I will show you Theophrastus in a similar garb,” he replied. “Where?” inquired the magistrate. “There!” answered Crates, pointing to a barber’s shop where the philosopher was undergoing the operation of shaving. Diog. Laert. vi. 90. Footnote 737: Lucian. adv. Indoct. § 29. Cf. Poll. ii. 27. -----