Legal Position of Women in Ancient Greece. house of the maternal grandfather might thus be restored and perpetuated, and that the gods should not be deprived of the wor ship of any family. Marriages in Greece were entered into, by men, more from motives of prudence than of sentiment. The population of the state had to be maintained, and each man wished to leave behind him sons who would con tinue his religious duties to the deities, at tend to his own funeral rites and perform all the legal ceremonies at his tomb. The selection of a future partner, except in Sparta, was a matter in which only in rarest cases had the bridegroom a voice; still less were the bride's views consulted. The parents set tled the whole matter, assisted sometimes by a match-maker, who was usually an old woman of a class not very highly respected. Mod esty was the chief quality sought for in a bride. The young people had little opportunity, at least in Athens, of making the acquain tance of one another before the marriage day. Plato thought that a woman should marry between eighteen and twenty, a man between thirty and thirty-five. Aristotle says eighteen for the woman, and thirty-seven for the man. The Greeks were generally much older than their wives. Solon would not allow a young man to marry a rich old woman; if he found such a fellow he would carry him off and give him to a poor girl who wanted a husband. In Athens, without a betrothal and formal nuptial contract the marriage was illegal and the children born in it were illegitimate. A maid could only be legally betrothed, or disposed of to a man, by her guardian — her father, or, if he were dead or absent, then, her brother (if she had several brothersj they had to act together), or her paternal grandfather. If none of these persons were alive, and her father had not betrothed her by will, it was essential to her lawful mar riage that the archon should adjudge her to the nearest male relative who wished to take
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her to wife. Should the girl be so poor that none of her relations wanted to have her, then the nearest relative was compelled to dower her (in which case he probably had the right to betroth her), or marry her; if he married her a formal betrothal to himself was not necessary, the introduction of the bride at the wedding-feast to the husband's kinsfolk and acquaintances sufficing to con stitute a legal marriage. (Marriage by the guardian was called " enguesis" — by the ar chon " epidikasia") We know not what period usually elapsed between the engage ment, or betrothal, and the actual marriage; nor whether the young people were allowed to see one another in case of a lengthy time elapsing. When the State had been satisfied by these formalities, the gods of the city, especially those interested in marriages, had to be con ciliated by religious ceremonies, sacrifices and prayers; these were chiefly performed by the bride and her parents. In many places she sacrificed her hair, or her toys, to some local nymph. On the wedding day both bride and groom washed in water specially brought by young boys or maidens, from the fountain Callirrhoe. A feast took place, after due sacrifices, at the residence of the bride's father, and this was one of the few occasions when men and women eat together. These wedding banquets became so luxurious that at last the State had to legislate on the subject. Plato would not have allowed husband and wife to ask more than five friends and five relatives each — that is twenty in all, on any occasion; and in the fourth century before Christ, a law was passed limiting the number to thirty for weddings, and instruct ing the officials who had charge of the women to enforce the law; and so particular were these men that they often entered the house where a wedding feast was in progress, counted the guests and turned out all be yond the legal number. Coleridge's ancient man, the bright-eyed mariner, who held with his glittering eye the wedding guest who
