[76] Why do they that are reputed to be of distinguished lineage wear crescents on their shoes?[173]
Is this, as Castor says,[174] an emblem of the fabled residence in the moon, and an indication that after death their souls will again have the moon beneath their feet[175]; or was this the special privilege of the most ancient families? These were Arcadians of Evander’s following, the so-called Pre-Lunar[176] people.
Or does this also, like many another custom, remind the exalted and proud of the mutability, for better or worse, in the affairs of men, and that they should take the moon as an illustration[177]:
When out of darkness first she comes anew
Her face she shows increasing fair and full;
And when she reaches once her brightest sheen,
Again she wastes away and comes to naught?
Or was it a lesson in obedience to authority, teaching them not to be disaffected under the government of kings, but to be even as the moon, who is willing to give heed to her superior and to be a second to him, “Ever gazing in awe at the rays of the bright-gleaming Sun-god,” as Parmenides[178] puts it; and were they thus to be content with their second placeo living under their ruler, and enjoying the power and honour derived from him?