The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-27
FACE.ENA


process which may fairly be termed 'ena-
melting" The skin was first rubbed with
pumice. stone, and afterwards coated with
white paint. MIR. Layard points out that
traces Of black and white pigments are visible
on the eyes and eyebrows of the sculptures;
these parts of the bas-reliefs appear to have
been more carefully painted than any other.
The flesh of the last king of Nineveh, we are
told by Athep@us, was as white as milk, and
his eyes and eyebrows were painted black.
Astyages is reported to have also had his
eyes and face thus painted A lsdy's dressing
case found at Thebes contained goodly array
Of jars and bottles containing perfumes aud
cosmetics.
Xenophon, in his Cyroppdia %. t., c. 81, re-
lates that when Cyrus, at the age of twelve
years, went with his mother to visit his grand
father Astyages, King of the Medes, he found
him adorned with paint round his eyes, color
on his face, and a magnificent wig of flowing
riDglets. The Egyptians used also a black
powder called kohl or kohOl which, applied
with a wooden or ivory bodkin to the pupils
of the eyes, increased their brliancy, and
made them appear larger--a custom still pre-
valent throughout the East-aDd, we regret to
say, not unknown in this country. Mr.. Rim
nell, in his "Book of Perfumes" tells us
that it is made in the following way:-The
inside of lemon is removed, filled up with
plumbsgo and burned copper, and placed in
the fire till it becomes carbonized; then pow
dered in q mortar with coral, sandal-wood,
pearls, ambergris, the wing of bat, and
part of the body of chameleon-the whole
having been previously burned to a cnder,
and moistened with rose water while hot.
Some think that when Jezebel, in Holy
Writ, is stated to have ''painted her face, aud
tired her head, and looked out at a window"
1t means that she merely gave dark hue to
her eyes. Ezekiel explains this mode of
painting when he says "Thou didst wash
thyself, paintest thine eyes, and deckest thy
self with ornaments"
Face-painting was not practised by the
Greek ladies in the time of Homer; but they
afterwards used whitehead, and touched up
their cheeks and lips with vermilion or a root
called pGderoS, similar to alkanet'root. The
Romans, according to Pliny, used cosmetics
to preserve their complexion, consisting of
pea-four, barley meal, eggs, wine-lees, harts-
horn, bulbs of narcissus, etc. A sort of poul-
tice was made with these, which was kept on
the face all night and part of the day. Pop
paa, the wife of Nero, invented an ointment
for the face, called from her name Poppaanum,
made of asses milk.
Ovid, in his Medicdmina Faciei, says that
two pounds of the barley brought from the
Libyan fields, mixed with an equal quantity of
bean -four, ten eggs, the sixth part of pound
of hartshorn passed through sieve, and
twelve narcissus bulbs, two ounces of gum, as
much Tuscan seed, and eighteen ounces of
honey, will render the face smoother and
more brilliant than mirror. The Romans
also used fucus, a kind of rouge, for the
cheeks, as early as the days of Plautus; pots
of this substance made of rock-crystal,
similar to the modern, were found at Hercu-
laneum. The rouge, or pupuriSSuS, used by
the Greek and Roman ladies, was of rose
color, and made of white chalk, dissolved in
a strong purple liquid, twice preepitated.
The last precipitate was the rouge. They also
- 1bal lii
lead (ceruSsa), and chalk (creta). The use of
both red and white paint was, in the time of
Augustus, confined to women of quality.
We give the following story in outline, to
show the effect these things had upon the
ancients. 1t was furnished TO Layard's
"Nineveh," " in 1912, by Mr.. Samuel Birch, Of
the British Museum.
Arteus, King of the Medes, had amongst
his subjects one Parsondes, man renowned
for his courage and strength. Parsondes,
having observed that Nanarus, the Governor
of Babylon, was very e1eminate in his per-
SOD, and shaved himself carefully, conceived
dislike to him, and asked the king to trans
fer his post to him. The king refused; and
Nanarus having heard what had occurred,
swore to be revenged on Parsondes.
The gallant Mede was induced to drink
sweet wines mixed with Intoxicating drugs,
and was taken before Nanarus, who asked him
why he had tried to supplant him. "Because
tnOuRnL HySel more worthy VI tuo
for l am more manly and more useful to the
king than you, who are sbaven, and have
your eyes underlined with stibium, and your
face painted with white lead" Nanarus
then swore by Belus and by Mylitta
(the Babylonian Venus) that he would
quickly make Parsondes softer and fairer
than any woman. He had him shaved and
rubbed with pumice-stone, bathed twice
day, his eyes underlined, and taught to sing
and play upon the harp, and his hair plated
like woman's. The experiment succeeded
and the manly Parsondes became as efeminate
as Nanarus. Artaus, the King, after sever
years, heard of his favorite, and demanded
that he should be restored. The ambassador
who came with this demand was invited by
Nanarus to a banquet in the course of which
one hundred and fifty female players entered
the hail. and Nanarus asked the ambassador
which of the women he thought superior t
the rest in beauty and accomplishments upoI
which he pointed to Parsondes. The lattel
was then set free, and contrived, on his return
home, to infict summary punishment on hil
enemy.
The orientals use schaouda, perfectly whit
cream, composed of jasmine pOmade aud ben
zoin, by means of which very natural bu
transient bloom is impaired to the cheeks
They also use batikha, complexion powder
made of cowrie shells, rice, boraX, lemons, apC
eggs, with beans and lentils. Sonnini in hi
''Travels in Egypt" says:-"So much care i
not thrown away; nowhere are the womel
more uniformly beautiful, nowhere do they
possess more the talent of assisting nature
nowhere, in word, are they better skilled o.
more practised in the art of arresting or re
pairing the ravages of time-an art which ha
Ito Orincinles and q great variety of nractica