Not P but Moby-Dick (24)

[David Morris]

In context, it seems to mean “grown old.”  Like a wizened grizzly old man.

On Sat, Oct 7, 2023 at 11:41 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> From Chapter 41:
>
> Winding far down from within the very heart of this spiked Hotel de Cluny
> where we here stand—however grand and wonderful, now quit it;—and take your
> way, ye nobler, sadder souls, to those vast Roman halls of Thermes; where
> far beneath the fantastic towers of man’s upper earth, his root of
> grandeur, his whole awful essence sits in bearded state; an antique buried
> beneath antiquities, and throned on torsoes!
>
> What does "bearded" mean here? Is it just the usual meaning, or is it
> something else?
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>