The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race Volume II Part 6

1. Having examined the political inst.i.tutions of the Doric states, we next proceed to consider their private life and domestic economy; which two subjects were so intimately connected in the habits of this race, that we shall not attempt to separate them by any exact line of distinction. Our observations will be confined to those matters which appear most to exhibit the peculiar character of the Dorians. For which purpose, having first considered their domestic conveniences, such as dwellings, &c., we will proceed to their domestic relations, their arts, and literature.

2. The dwellings of the Dorians were plain and simple. By a law of Lycurgus the doors of every house were to be fashioned only with the saw, and the ceiling with the axe;(1226) not that the legislator intended to abolish altogether the science of architecture, but merely to restrain it to its proper objects, viz., temples and public buildings, and to prevent it from purveying to private luxury. The kings of Greece in Homer's time lived not only in s.p.a.cious, but also richly ornamented houses, the walls of which glittered with bra.s.s, silver, gold, amber, and ivory; but no such splendour was seen in the dwellings of the Heraclide princes. The palace of the two kings of Sparta was said to have been built by Aristodemus at the taking of the town; here Agesilaus lived after the manner of his ancestors; the doors even in his time being, according to Xenophon's somewhat exaggerated expression, those of the original building.(1227) Hence Leotychidas the elder (490 B.C.) asked his host at Corinth (which city had early risen to riches and luxury), on seeing the ceiling ornamented with sunken panels (fat??ata), "whether the trees in Corinth were naturally four-cornered."(1228) The houses at Sparta, however, notwithstanding their rude structure, were probably s.p.a.cious and commodious; in front there was generally a court-yard, separated by a wall from the street,(1229) and containing a large portico. The towns of Peloponnesus were for the most part irregularly built, whereas the Ionians had early learnt to lay out their streets in straight lines,(1230) a custom which Hippodamus of Miletus succeeded in spreading over the rest of Greece. It was probably this architect who in the year 445 B.C. laid out the plan of Thurii(1231) in exact squares, with streets at right angles;(1232) and the same who in his old age built the city of Rhodes (407 B.C.), the plan of which was designed with such perfect symmetry, that, according to the expression of the astonished ancients, it seemed _like one house_.(1233)

3. The principles of Lycurgus, however, we repeat did not in the least degree r.e.t.a.r.d the progress of real architecture. Indeed we know that in the embellishment of their sacred edifices the Dorians employed a style of building which they themselves invented, from the strict principles of which they never deviated, and which at the same time they took the utmost care to bring to perfection. That they were in strictness the _original inventors_ of this style of architecture has been first satisfactorily proved by the remarkable discoveries of modern times, which have laid open to us the monuments of the unknown ages of Greece in all their strange peculiarities. The treasury of Atreus is indeed the only example now extant of a cla.s.s of buildings doubtless once very numerous;(1234) but its paraboloidal construction distinguishes it as well from the later Grecian as the oriental style of architecture. Near this structure some fragments of columns have been discovered by modern travellers,(1235) remarkable both for the variety of their forms and the richness of their ornaments; still the spot on which they were found, as well as their singular shape, leave no doubt that they belong to the same unknown period. They consist, first, of the base of a fluted column, with a plinth, and also a torus of elliptical outline, decorated with an alternation of projecting and receding compartments, the former of which have in some cases an ornament of spiral lines; secondly, a fragment of the shaft of a column of bronze-coloured marble, similarly ornamented with compartments; thirdly, a very small fragment of a capital; and, lastly, a tablet of white marble, with a species of ornament in imitation of sh.e.l.ls. There are in the British Museum two tablets of light green and dark red marble, both taken from the treasury of Atreus, which have the spiral lines above mentioned, and are worked very elaborately, though without mathematical precision.(1236) We have given this description of a style of architecture, not strictly belonging to our subject, in order to direct the reader's attention to these most remarkable remains of Grecian sculpture, which are quite sufficient to convince us that the building to which they belong, thus adorned with party-coloured stones, and probably covered in the interior with plates of bronze, may be reckoned as the monument of a time when a semi-barbarous style of architecture prevailed throughout Greece.

4. In direct contrast with the above is the simple unornamented character and un.o.btrusive grandeur of the style unanimously called by the ancients _the Doric_.(1237) It appears certain that the first hints of this order were borrowed from buildings constructed of wood, a fact which I cannot reconcile with the supposition of a foreign origin. For we should thus lose sight altogether of the gradual and regular progress by which it advanced to maturity, and suppose that the improvements of foreign artificers, with their peculiar principles, and those of native architects, looking only to the original structure of wood, were blended, or rather violently confused together. Could anything be more natural than that the long surface of the princ.i.p.al beams should be imitated in stone, that the cross-beams with the Doric triglyph should be laid over these, the intervals or metopes being by degrees covered with marble, whilst the cornice, in imitation of carpenters' work, was allowed to project in bold relief? The roof perhaps was for some time allowed to end in a slope on each side; Corinth was the first place where the front and hind part were finished off with a pediment; the tympanum being adorned with statues of ancient clay-work.(1238) Such was the origin of the Doric temple, of which early models have been preserved in the Doric towns of Corinth and Paestum, in aegina, and the Doric colonies of Sicily.

We cannot however suppose it to have been the opinion of the historian of ancient architecture,(1239) that the _artistical_ character of the Doric architecture may be satisfactorily derived from wooden buildings. It is the essence of this art to connect, by the varieties of form and proportion, a peculiar a.s.sociation of ideas with works intended merely for purposes of necessity. The Doric character, in short, created the Doric architecture. In the temples of this order the weight to be supported is intentionally increased, and the architrave, frieze, and cornice, of unusual depth; but the columns are proportionably strong, and placed very close to each other; so that, in contemplating the structure, our astonishment at the weight supported is mingled with pleasure at the security imparted by the strength of the columns underneath. This impression of firmness and solidity is increased by the rapid tapering of the column, its conical shape giving it an appearance of strength; while the diminution beginning immediately at the base, and the straight line not being, as in other orders, softened by the interposition of the swelling, gives a severity of character to the order.

With this rapid diminution is also connected the bold projection of the echinus (or _quarter-round_) of the capital; which likewise creates a striking impression, particularly if its outline is nearly rectilineal.

The alternation of long unornamented surfaces with smaller rows of decorated work awakens a feeling of simple grandeur, without appearing either monotonous or fatiguing. The harmony spread over the whole becomes more conspicuous when contrasted with the dark shadows occasioned by the projecting drip of the cornice; above, the magnificent pediment crowns the whole. Thus in this creation of art we find expressed the peculiar bias of the Doric race to strict rule, simple proportion, and pure harmony.

Chapter II.

-- 1. General character of the Doric dress. -- 2. Different dresses of married and unmarried women among the Dorians. -- 3. Dress of the Spartan women. -- 4. Dress of the Spartan men. -- 5. Simplicity of the Doric dress. -- 6. Doric and Ionic fashions of wearing the hair. Change of costume in many Doric states. Baths.

1. The next point which we have to consider is the mode of clothing in use among the Dorians; in which a peculiar taste was displayed; an ancient decorum and simplicity, equally removed from the splendour of Asiatics and the uncleanliness of barbarians. At the same time, however, they paid considerable attention to their personal appearance, although their manners did not require the body to be studiously and completely covered.

A Dorian was the first who in the lists of Olympia threw off the heavy girdle, which the wrestlers of Homer had worn in common with those of barbarous countries, and ran naked to the goal;(1240) in fact a display of the naked form, when all covering was useless, and indeed inconvenient, was altogether in harmony with the Doric character. This reminds us of the nakedness of the Spartan young women, even in the time of Athenian civilization, which custom gave rise to the joke, that "the Spartans showed foreigners their virgins naked."(1241) On this subject, however, it is necessary that we should enter into greater detail.

2. In the first place these words direct our attention to the different modes of life of the married and unmarried women among the Dorians. Modern manners, derived from the age of chivalry, carefully withdraw young women from all impressions calculated to inflame the pa.s.sions; while married women are more exposed to intercourse with men. But, according to the colder notions of the Greeks, which are seen most clearly among the Dorians, the unmarried lived more in public than the married women; who attended more to the care of their family; and hence the former alone practised music and athletic exercises; the latter being occupied only with their household affairs.(1242) This explains why at Sparta unmarried women appeared with their faces uncovered, while the married only went out in veils;(1243) and it was common to see the former walking in the streets with young men,(1244) which was certainly not permitted to the others; and so also at Sparta,(1245) in Crete,(1246) and at Olympia, virgins were permitted to be spectators of the gymnastic contests, and _married_ women only were excluded;(1247) the reverse of which was the case in Ionia, where the unmarried women were usually shut up in the interior of the houses.(1248)

This different position in society was also marked by the dress, which was lighter and less strict among the unmarried women; for it is these alone who are charged with exposure of their persons. This charge of the Athenians was, however, caused by a strange forgetfulness of ancient custom; for after the mode of treatment of their women had become precisely similar to that of the eastern nations, the ancient Greek usage appeared to them unnatural;(1249) and the dress of the Doric women caused in their minds the same notions as the German dress in those of the Romans; of which Tacitus says, "the German women wear the arms naked up to the shoulders, and even the next part of the breast is uncovered; _notwithstanding which_ they never break the marriage vow."

3. On the dress of the Spartans I need only, after the labours of former writers,(1250) make the following remarks. The chief, or indeed the only garment of the Doric virgin is by ancient writers sometimes called _himation_,(1251) sometimes _chiton_: the former more correctly, as appears from works of art; and the latter word was used metaphorically, from the resemblance of the himation to the linen chiton of the Ionians.

This garment of woollen stuff was without sleeves, and fastened over both shoulders by clasps (p??pa?, pe???a?), which were often of considerable size;(1252) while the Ionic women wore sleeves of greater or less length.(1253) This chiton was only joined together on one side, while on the other it was left partly open or slit up (s??st?? ??t??(1254)); probably it could be fastened with clasps, or opened wider, so as to admit a freer motion of the limbs, so that the two skirts (pt????e?) flew open; whence Ibycus called the Spartan women fa??????de?.(1255) This garment was also worn without a girdle; when it hung down to the calves of the legs.(1256)

This is generally the dress with which the G.o.ddesses Victory and Iris are represented in works of art, the latter particularly among the statues from the pediment of the Parthenon, in which rapid motion is indicated by the chiton being thrown from the feet and ancles on the left side; and in the same chiton, though with more ample folds, is the dress of Athene in many statues of the more finished and perfect style of the art: and Artemis, the huntress, in the Doric chiton, girt up for the purpose of rapid motion.

In one of these different fashions, according to her object and business, the virgin of Sparta, generally without the himation,(1257) wore a single garment, and appeared even in the company of men without any further covering. Thus Periander the Corinthian(1258) was seized with love for the beautiful Melissa at Epidaurus, when he saw her dressed, after the Peloponnesian manner, in her chiton, without any upper garment, as she was giving out wine to the labourers.(1259) In this costume the Doric virgins might be seen dancing at their places of exercise and in the chorus.(1260) The married women, however, never appeared without an upper garment; which probably was not essentially different from the himation of the men: thus, for example, the wife of Phocion, who lived in the Doric manner, according to the account of Plutarch, often went out in the himation of her husband.

4. This leads us to consider the costume of the men, the chief parts of which we will describe generally, before we speak of them in detail. These then are, first, the chiton, a woollen shirt without sleeves, worn by all the Greeks and Italians, the only dress of boys;(1261) since it was not till after the increase of luxury in Athens that they began to dress young boys in the himation.(1262) Secondly, the himation, called in Homer ??a??a.(1263) a square piece of cloth, sometimes rounded off at the corners, which was commonly thrown over the left, and behind under the right arm, and the end was again brought back over the left shoulder.(1264) Thirdly, the chlamys (Tetta???? pt??a), of Macedonian and Thessalian origin,(1265) an oblong piece of cloth, of which the two lower ends came forward, and were fastened with a clasp upon the right shoulder; so that it left that arm free. This latter dress is never mentioned in the poems of Homer. Sappho was the first among the Greek poets who spoke of it.(1266) It was not therefore till after her time that its use was extended over Greece Proper, first as the dress of hors.e.m.e.n, and young men in general, and then as a military cloak; under which character it was introduced into Sparta.(1267) The earliest painted vases, however, always represent the warriors in the himation, which is commonly without folds, and drawn close to the body.(1268)

Thucydides(1269) says of the Lacedaemonians, that "_they were the first to adopt a simpler mode of dress_:" a statement which is founded on a peculiar notion of this historian, that the loose linen garments, which were still worn by old-fashioned people at Athens in the time of Aristophanes, were the original Greek dress; whereas we know with tolerable certainty that this dress was brought over to Athens by the Ionians of Asia.(1270) The Athenians again laid this aside at the time of the Peloponnesian war, and returned to the thin clothing of the ancient Greeks; with the exception of the women, who had formerly at Athens worn the Doric costume, but now retained the Ionic dress with long sleeves, wide folds, and trailing hem, which was generally of linen. Thucydides, however, is so far right, that the Lacedaemonians were distinguished among all the Greeks for their scanty and simple clothing: thus the Lacedaemonian habit,(1271) the t????,(1272) was of thick cloth and small size,(1273) which the youths(1274) of Sparta were bound by custom to wear the whole year through without any other clothes;(1275) and to which older men (for example, those Athenians who aped the Lacedaemonian manners) sometimes voluntarily submitted.

5. As at Athens the style of dress indicated the rank and station of the wearer, so also the Doric manners were clearly expressed in the arrangement of the clothes. Thus, for example, it was generally recognised in Greece that holding the arms within the cloak was a sign of modesty;(1276) and hence the Spartan youths, like the Roman in the first year of their manhood, appeared always in the street with both hands under their cloak and their eyes cast down, "resembling statues," says Xenophon,(1277) "in their silence, and in the immoveability of their eyes, and more modest than virgins in the bridal chamber." In the same manner the youths of lower Italy, in which there were many Doric cities, are frequently represented on vases, with the arms folded under the cloak, which is indicated by the large fold across the breast.(1278)

In other respects equality(1279) and simplicity were the prevailing rule.

Manufacturers of ointment were excluded from Sparta, as being corrupters of oil: dyers, because they deprived the wool of its beautiful white colour.(1280) "Deceitful are ointments, and deceitful are dyes," is the Spartan expression for this idea.(1281) Even in the cities which had early departed from the Doric customs, there were frequent and strict prohibitions against expensiveness of female attire, prost.i.tutes alone being wisely excepted.(1282) As in Sparta the beard was considered as the ornament of a man,(1283) and as a sign of freedom (to which the symbolical edict of the ephors to shave the beard refers),(1284) so also at Byzantium and Rhodes shaving was prohibited by ancient, but constantly neglected, laws.(1285) The custom of carrying sticks (in Doric s??t??a?) was common to the Spartans,(1286) with the Dorians of lower Italy.(1287)

6. The Doric customs were not, however, hostile to the beauty of personal appearance; but the beauty at which they aimed was of a severe kind, and remote from all feminine tenderness. The Spartan from his youth upwards(1288) preserved, in order to distinguish him from slaves and mechanics,(1289) according to ancient usage,(1290) the hair of his head uncut,(1291) which indeed, if not properly arranged, might frequently give him a squalid appearance. It seems that both men and women tied the hair in a knot over the crown of the head;(1292) while, according to the Ionic custom, which in this respect resembled that of the barbarians, it was divided into locks, and connected over the forehead with golden clasps in the shape of gra.s.shoppers.(1293) On their heads the Lacedaemonians wore hats with broad brims, which were sometimes also used in war, though probably only by the light-armed soldiers.(1294) The manner in which they arranged and adorned their hair for battle was remarked above.(1295)

That most of the Doric states, and particularly the colonies, degenerated from this n.o.ble and beautiful simplicity, does not require to be proved.

The splendour of Rhodes was proverbial, nor was any dress more effeminate than the transparent and loose robe of Tarentum;(1296) and the Sicilian garments, which Lysander or Archidamus received as a present from Dionysius, he rejected as unfit for his daughters.(1297)

Among the accompaniments of the toilette may be mentioned the baths; with respect to which it may be remarked, that the Lacedaemonian custom only admitted of two kinds; viz., the cold daily baths in the Eurotas (which also formed a part of the regimen of king Agesilaus(1298)), and from time to time a dry sudorific bath.(1299) But the weakening of the body by warm or tepid baths was strictly prohibited.(1300)

Chapter III.

-- 1. Syssitia of the Dorians and other Greek races. -- 2. Simple fare of Sparta. -- 3. Public tables of Sparta and Crete. -- 4.

Abandonment of the simple fare in some Doric colonies.

1. With respect to the food and meals of the Dorians, we will only mention those points which are connected with some historical or moral fact, since we have already considered this subject in connexion with the economy of the state.

In the first place, the adherence of the Dorians to ancient Greek usages is visible in their custom of eating together, or of the _syssitia_. For these public tables were not only in use among the Dorians (with whom, besides in Crete and Sparta, they also existed at Megara in the time of Theognis,(1301) and at Corinth in the time of Periander),(1302) but they had also once been a national custom among the notrians(1303) and their kinsmen the Arcadians, particularly at Phigalia;(1304) and among the Greeks of Homer the princes at least eat together, and at the cost of the community; a custom which was retained by the Prytanes at Athens, Rhodes, and elsewhere. In particular, the public tables of Sparta have in many points a great resemblance to the Homeric banquets (da?te?)(1305); only that _all_ the Spartans were in a certain manner considered as princes.

The Spartans, however, so far departed from the ancient custom, that at the time of Alcman they _lay_(1306) at table; while the Dorians of Crete always _sat_,(1307) like the heroes of Homer and the early Romans, according to the ancient European usage, which was entirely supplanted among the early Greeks by the oriental custom introduced by the Ionians.

2. With regard to the food, it is probable that in Sparta much had been retained from ancient usage, and that the rest had been from its first origin peculiar to the nation. The profession of cook at Sparta was, as we have already remarked, hereditary,(1308) and consequently they had no inducement to vie with one another in the delicacy and luxury of their dishes: they cooked the black broth, as their ancestors had done before them. It was likewise more difficult to make dishes of various ingredients, on account of the division of the different departments of cookery; for instance, some cooks were only allowed to dress flesh, others to make broth,(1309) &c. The bakers, whose trade also was hereditary, generally baked nothing but barley-bread (??f?ta);(1310) wheaten bread was only eaten at the dessert of the public tables, when presented by liberal individuals.(1311) The latter kind of bread was originally scarce in Greece, whither it was introduced chiefly from Sicily;(1312) in which country they had also a particular kind of Doric wheaten bread, of coa.r.s.er meal than was common elsewhere.(1313) The chief dish of meat at the public tables was the black broth (??a? ????);(1314) also pork,(1315) the meat being subjected to stricter regulations than any other kind of food.(1316) Poultry and game were generally eaten after dinner: beef, pork, and kid, were chiefly supplied by the sacrifices, which upon the whole were an exception to the Phiditia.(1317) Their mode of drinking was also that of the ancient Greeks; which, as far as I am aware, is only mentioned in Homer. Before each person was placed a cup, which was filled by the cup-bearer with mixed wine, when it had been emptied; the wine was however never pa.s.sed round, and no person drank to another; which were Lydian customs introduced by the Ionians.(1318) Both in Sparta and Crete it was forbidden by law to drink to intoxication;(1319) and no persons were lighted home except old men of sixty.(1320)

3. But a still more beautiful feature in the Doric character is the friendly community of their public tables, founded upon the close union of the company of the tables (?ta???a in Crete);(1321) into which fresh members were admitted by unanimous election (by ballot).(1322) Whether a preference was shown to kinsmen is uncertain; the syssitia indeed, as divisions of the state, were founded upon a supposed relationship, that is, the connexion of houses;(1323) but here we are speaking of smaller societies, consisting of about fifteen men. A company of this kind was a small state in itself,(1324) arranged upon aristocratical principles,(1325) although the equality was not interrupted by the privileges of any individuals. The ties of this friendly union were however drawn still closer by the constant intercourse of giving and taking, which enriched the scanty meal with the more palatable _after-meal_ (?p??????) or dessert, which no one was permitted to purchase:(1326) from which the ??p?? should be distinguished, a sacrificial feast, which individuals furnished on stated occasions, and invited to it any friends whom they wished, and particularly the kings.(1327) The phiditia were not, however, considered a scanty and disagreeable meal, until thrown in the shade by the refinements of modern luxury; for they had originally been intended to increase the comforts of the partakers. The conversation, indeed, turned chiefly upon public affairs:(1328) but laughter and jocularity were not prohibited.(1329) Every person was encouraged to speak by the general confidence, and there were frequent songs, as Alcman says that "at the banquets and drinking entertainments of the men, it was fit for the guests to sing the paean."(1330) Nor was the appellation fe?d?t?a, that is, the _spare_, or _scanty meals_, of any antiquity, and the Spartans received it from abroad:(1331) by whom, as well as in Crete, they were once called ??d?e?a, or the meals of men.(1332) For the men alone were admitted to them: the youths and boys ate in their own divisions, whilst the small children were allowed to eat at the public tables, and both in Crete and Sparta they sat on low stools near their fathers' chairs, and received a half share without any vegetables (?a??e?sta).(1333) The women were never admitted to the syssitia of the men: both at Sparta and in Crete the rule was, that they ate at home;(1334) in the latter state, however, a woman had the care of the tables of the men.(1335) The Cretans were distinguished by their great hospitality: for every two tables of the citizens there was always one for foreigners; and when two cities were in close alliance with one another, their citizens mutually enjoyed the right of frequenting the public tables of the other state.(1336)

4. This temperance and simplicity, which was longest preserved in Crete and Sparta, were considered by the ancients as characterizing generally the whole Doric race, and a simple mode of cookery was called Doric;(1337) although many cities of that race, such as Tarentum, Syracuse,(1338) and Agrigentum,(1339) entirely abandoned the severe and sober habits of their race; and having once broken through the bonds of ancient custom, gave themselves up with the less restraint to every kind of luxury and indulgence.(1340)

Chapter IV.

-- 1. Freedom of intercourse between unmarried persons at Sparta. -- 2. Marriage ceremonies. -- 3. Age of marriage. -- 4. Relations of husband and wife. -- 5. Different treatment of women among the Ionians. -- 6. ?a?de?ast?a of Sparta. -- 7. And of Crete. -- 8.

Origin of this custom.

1. We now proceed to describe the different relations in the domestic life of the Dorians; and first, that between man and wife. Here it will be necessary to contradict the idea, that the duties of private life were but little esteemed by the Doric race, particularly at Sparta, and were sacrificed to the duty owed to the community. The Lacedaemonian maxim was in direct opposition to this doctrine; viz., that the door of his court(1341) was the boundary of every man's freedom:(1342) without, all owned the authority of the state; within, the master of the house ruled as lord on his own ground;(1343) and the rights of domestic life, notwithstanding their frequent collision with the public inst.i.tutions, were more respected than at Athens. At the same time, however, a peculiar national custom, which pervaded the whole system of legislation, prevailed throughout these relations with a force and energy, which we, taking the accounts of the ancients as our guide, will endeavour now to examine. It has been above remarked how, in accordance with the manners of the east, but in direct opposition to the later habits of the Greeks,(1344) a free intercourse in public was permitted by the Dorians to the youth of both s.e.xes, who were brought into contact particularly at festivals and choruses.(1345) Hence Homer represents the Cretan chorus as composed of young men and women, who dance hand in hand.(1346) At Sparta in particular the young men lived in the presence of the unmarried women, and as their derision was an object of dread, so to be the theme of their praise was the highest reward for n.o.ble actions.(1347) Hence it was very possible at Sparta, that affection and love, although not of a romantic nature, should take possession of the heart: but at Athens, as far as my recollection goes, we have not a single instance of a man having loved a free-born woman, and marrying her from any strong affection, whilst a single narrative of Herodotus(1348) contains two love stories at Sparta. How many opportunities may have been given by the festivals, as for instance the Hyacinthia, at which the Spartan damsels were seen going about in ???a??a (ornamented cars peculiar to the country, which were also used in the procession to the temple of Helen at Therapne), and racing in chariots in the midst of a.s.sembled mult.i.tudes.(1349) Accordingly, the beauty of her women, the most beautiful in all Greece,(1350) was at Sparta more than any other town, an object of general admiration, in a nation where beauty of form was particularly felt and esteemed.(1351)

2. Two things were, however, requisite as an introduction and preparation to marriage at Sparta, first, betrothing on the part of the father;(1352) secondly, the seizure of the bride. The latter was clearly an ancient national custom, founded on the idea that the young woman could not surrender her freedom and virgin purity unless compelled by the violence of the stronger s.e.x. They married, says Plutarch, by ravishing. The bridegroom brought the young virgin, having carried her off from the chorus of maidens or elsewhere, to the bride's maid, who cut short her hair, and left her lying in a man's dress and shoes, without a light, on a bed of rushes, until the bridegroom returned from the public banquet, carried the bride to the nuptial couch, and loosened her girdle.(1353) And this intercourse was for some time carried on clandestinely, till the man brought his wife, and frequently her mother, into his house. That this usage was retained to the last days of Sparta may be inferred from the fact, that the young wife of Panteus was still in the house of her parents, and remained there, when he went with Cleomenes to Egypt.(1354) A similar custom must have prevailed in Crete, where we find, that the young persons who were dismissed at the same time from the agele, were immediately married, but did not till some time after introduce their wives into their own house.(1355) The children born before this took place were probably called pa??e??a?;(1356) they were in general considered in all respects equal to those born at home; but in the first Messenian war particular circ.u.mstances seem to have made it impossible to provide them with lots of land;(1357) and hence they became the founders of Tarentum.(1358)

3. The age of marriage was fixed by the ancient Greeks and western nations much later than at a subsequent period by those of the east. Following the former, the laws of Sparta did not allow women of too tender an age to be disposed of in marriage. The women were generally those at the highest pitch of youthful vigour(1359) (called in Rhodes ???est????de?),(1360) and for the men, about the age of thirty was esteemed the most proper, as we find in Hesiod,(1361) Plato,(1362) and even Aristotle. Public actions might however be brought against those who married too late (??af?

????a???), to which those also were liable who had entered into unsuitable marriages (??af? ?a???a???), and those who remained unmarried (??af? ??a???).(1363) It is well known that these laws have been blamed as a violation of the rights of individuals, and even a profanation of the rite of marriage: but these censors should have remembered that they were judging those inst.i.tutions by principles which the founders of them would not have recognised. For the Spartans considered marriage, not as a _private relation_, about which the state had little or no interest, but as a _public inst.i.tution_, in order to rear up a strong and healthy progeny to the nation. In Solon's legislation, marriage was also placed under the inspection of the state, and an action for not marrying (??af?

??a???(1364)), though merely as a relic of antiquity, existed at Athens.

It is nevertheless true that marriage, especially in Sparta, was, to a certain degree, viewed with a primitive simplicity, which shocks the feelings of more refined ages, as the peculiar object of matrimony was never kept out of sight. Leonidas, when despatched to Thermopylae, is said to have left as a legacy to his wife Gorgo the maxim, _Marry n.o.bly, and produce a n.o.ble offspring_;(1365) and when Acrotatus had fought bravely in the war against Pyrrhus, the women followed him through the town, and some of the older ones shouted after him, "Go, Acrotatus, enjoy yourself with Chelidonis, and beget valiant sons for Sparta."(1366) Hence we may perceive the reason why in various cases(1367) (such as are known to us have been mentioned above(1368)) Lycurgus not only allowed, but enjoined the marriage duties to be transferred to another; always, however, providing that the sanct.i.ty of the marriage union should be for a certain time sacrificed to that which the Doric race considered as of higher importance, viz., the maintenance of the family. That these cases were so defined by custom, as to leave but little room for the effects of caprice or pa.s.sion, is evident from the infrequency of adultery at Sparta:(1369) but the above aim justified even king Anaxandridas, when, contrary to all national customs, he cohabited with two wives,(1370) who lived without doubt in separate houses. To marry foreign women was certainly forbidden to all Spartans, and to the Heraclidae by a separate rhetra;(1371) contrary to the custom in other Grecian towns, especially Athens, whose princes in early times, as Megacles, Miltiades, &c., frequently contracted marriages with foreigners.

4. The domestic relation of the wife to her husband among the Dorians was in general the same as that of the ancient western nations, described by Homer as universal among the Greeks, and which existed at Rome till a late period; the only difference being, that the peculiarities of the custom were preserved by the Dorians more strictly than elsewhere. It formed a striking contrast with the habits of the Ionic Athenians, with whom the ancient custom of Greece was almost entirely supplanted by that of the east.(1372) Amongst the Ionians of Asia, the wife (as we are informed by Herodotus(1373)) shared indeed the bed, but not the table of her husband; she dared not call him by his name, but addressed him with the t.i.tle of lord, and lived secluded in the interior of the house: on this model the most important relations between man and wife were regulated at Athens.

But amongst the Dorians of Sparta, the wife(1374) was honoured by her husband with the t.i.tle of mistress (d?sp???a),(1375) (a gallantry belonging to the north of Greece, and also practised by the Thessalians(1376)), which was used neither ironically nor unmeaningly.

Nay, so strange did the importance which the Lacedaemonian women enjoyed, and the influence which they exercised as the managers of their household, and mothers of families, appear to the Greeks, at a time when the prevalence of Athenian manners prevented a due consideration for national customs, that Aristotle(1377) supposed Lycurgus to have attempted, but without success, to regulate the life of women as he had that of the men; and the Spartans were frequently censured for submitting to the yoke of their wives.(1378) Nevertheless Alcman, generally a great admirer of the beauty of Lacedaemonian women, could say, "It becomes a man to say much, and a woman to rejoice at all she hears."(1379) In accusing the women of Sparta, however, for not essentially a.s.sisting their country in times of necessity, Aristotle has in the first place required of them a duty which even in Sparta lay out of their sphere, and in the second place, his a.s.sertion has been sufficiently contradicted by the events of a subsequent period, in the last days of Sparta, which acquired a surprising l.u.s.tre from female valour.(1380) On the whole, however, little as the Athenians esteemed their own women, they involuntarily revered the heroines of Sparta, such as Gorgo the wife of Leonidas, Lampito the daughter of Leotychidas, the wife of Archidamus and mother of Agis;(1381) and this feeling is sometimes apparent even in the coa.r.s.e jests of Aristophanes.

5. How this indulgent treatment of the women among the Dorians produced a state of opinion entirely different from that prevalent at Athens, has been intimated above, and will be further explained hereafter. In general it may be remarked, that while among the Ionians women were merely considered in an inferior and sensual light, and though the aeolians allowed their feelings a more exalted tone, as is proved by the amatory poetesses of Lesbos;(1382) the Dorians, as well at Sparta as in the south of Italy, were almost the only nation who esteemed the higher attributes of the female mind as capable of cultivation.

It is hardly necessary to remark, that in considering the rights and duties of the wife, as represented in the above pages, to apply to the whole Doric race, allowance must be made for the alterations introduced into different towns, particularly by foreign intercourse and luxury. At Corinth, for instance, the inst.i.tution of the sacred slaves (?e??d?????) in the temple of Aphrodite, probably introduced from Asia Minor, produced a most prejudicial effect on the morals of that city, and made it the ancient and great resort of courtesans.(1383)