Aristotle's works:: Containing the Master-piece, Directions for Midwives, and Counsel and Advice to Child-bearing Women with Various Useful Remedies
Aristotle · en
The forehead that riseth in a round, signifies a man liberally merry, of
a good understanding, and generally inclined to virtue. He whose
forehead is fleshy, and the bone of the brow jutting out, and without
wrinkles, is a man much inclined to suits of law, contentious, vain,
deceitful, and addicted to follow ill courses. He whose forehead is very
low and little, is of a good understanding, magnanimous, but extremely
bold and confident, and a great pretender to love and honour. He whose
forehead seems sharp, and pointed up in the corners of his temples, so
that the bone seems to jut forth a little, is a man naturally weak and
fickle, and weak in the intellectuals. He whose brow upon the temples is
full of flesh, is a man of a great spirit, proud, watchful, and of a
gross understanding. He whose brow is full of wrinkles, and has as it
were a seam coming down the middle of the forehead, so that a man may
think he hath two foreheads, is one that is of a great spirit, a great
wit, void of deceit, and yet of a hard fortune. He who has a full large
forehead, and a little round withal, destitute of hair, or at least that
has little on it, is bold, malicious, high-spirited, full of choler, and
apt to transgress beyond all bounds, and yet of a good wit, and very
apprehensive. He whose forehead is long and high, and jutting forth, and
whose face is figured, almost sharp and picked towards the chin, is one
reasonably honest, but weak and simple, and of a hard fortune.
Those eye-brows that are much arched, whether in man or woman, and which
by frequent motion elevate themselves, show the person to be proud,
high-spirited, vain-glorious, bold and threatening, a lover of beauty,
and indifferently inclined to either good or evil. He whose eye-lids
bend downwards when he speaks to another, or when he looks upon him, and
who has a kind of skulking look, is by nature a penurious wretch, close
in all his actions, of a very few words, but full of malice in his
heart. He whose eye-brows are thick, and have but little hair upon them,
is but weak in his intellectuals, and too credulous, very sincere,
sociable, and desirous of good company. He whose eye-brows are folded,
and the hair thick, and bending downwards, is one that is clownish and
unlearned, heavy, suspicious, miserable, envious, and one that will
cheat and cozen you if he can, and is only to be kept honest by good
looking to. He whose eye-brows have but short hair and of a whitish
colour, is fearful, and very easy of belief, and apt to undertake any
thing. Those on the other side whose eye-brows are black, and the hair
of them but thin, will do nothing without great consideration, and are
bold and confident of the performance of what they undertake: neither
are they apt to believe any thing without reason for so doing.