Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

7.2 6 MATRIIM ONI iUM;I. MATRIMONIU-M.
Th'le choice of a wife among the ancients was but heiress in fact, together with her inheritance,
rarely grounded upon affection, and scarcely ever seems to have belonged to the kinsmen of the
could have been the result of previous acquaintance family, so that in early times a father could not
or familiarity. In many cases a father chose for give his daughter (if an heiress) in marriage withhis son a bride whom the latter had never seen, or out their consent. (Muiiller, Doieans, ii. 10. ~ 4.)
compelled him to marry for the sake of checking But this was not the case according to the later
his extravagances. Terence (Andrida, i. 5) thus Athenian law (Demosth. c. Steph. p. 1134), by
illustrates the practice:- which a father was empowered to dispose of his
" Pater praeteriens modo daughter by will or otherwise; just as widows
Mihi apud forum, uxor tibi ducenda est, Pamphile, also were disposed of in marriage, by the will cf
hodie inqulit: pcara." their husbands, who were cns'idered their rigllhtful guardians (Kcvpro). (Demosth. c. Aphol.
In Plautus (Trinum. v. 2. 59) a son promises his p. 814.)
father that he will marry in these words:- The same practice of marrying in the family
" Ego ducam, pater: etiam si quam aliam jubebis." (OiKOS), especially in the case of heiresses, prevailed
at Sparta; thus Leonidas married the heiress of
Representations of this sort may indeed be con- Cleomenes, as being her aYXseTESS, or next of kin,
sidered as exaggerations, but there must have been and Anaxandrides his own sister's daughter.
scenes in real life to which they in some measure Moreover, if a father had'not determined himself
correspond. Nor was the consent of a female to a concerning his daughter, it was decided by the
match proposed for her generally thought neces- kins courted
sary: she was obliged to submit to the wishes of members of the sme flong theould marry the heiress.
members of the same family should marry the heiress.
her parents, and receive from them, it might be a erod. vi..) A st ng resem(.Ierod. vi. 57; Mliller, c.) A striking reseiastranger for her husband and lord. Sophocles blauce to the Athenian law respecting heiresses
thus describes the lot of women in this respect: -ewish code, as detiled i
sstsx. 1is also found in the Jewish code, as detailed in
" When we are grown up (he makes a female say) Nmbers (c. xxvii. 1-11), and exemplified in
we are driven away from our parents and paternal RZutlb (C. iv.).
But match-making among the ancients was not,
ical Toaur', 7rEa'rS, E'ppOV, CES6p kda, in default of any legal regulations, entirely left to
Xpeb& reraltsvc, al aotcelsv rcaAcr TXe rv. the care and forethought of parents, for we read of
Frogqt. Teseus. women who made a profession of it, and who were
So also in Euripides (Andlron. 951) Hermicne de- therefore called 7rpotYv7'OTPLat or 7rpoyfuVr7'1phCes.
cldares that it is her father's business to provide a (Pollux, iii. 31.) The profession, however, does
husband for her. The result of marriages con- not seem to have been thought very honourable
tracted in this manner would naturally be a want nor to have been held in repute, as being too
of confidence and mutual understanding between nearly connected with, or likely to be prostituted
husbanld and wife, until they became better ac- to, 7rpoaywEifa. (Plato, Ttleaet. 2. p. 150.)
quainted with, and accustomed to, each other. Particular days and seasons of the year were
Xenophon (Occon.7. ~ 10.) illustrates this with much thought auspicious and favourable for marriage
zaei'ete in the person of Ischomachus, who says of amongst the Greeks. Aristotle (Polil.'vii. 15)
his newly married wife: - " Vhen at last she was speaks of the winter generally as being so consimanageable (XelposOW7s), and getting tame so that dered, and at Athens the month'ra/ui,/Mdc, partly
I could talk with her, I asked her," &c., &c. By corresponding to our January, received its lame
the Athenian laws a citizen was not allowed to from marriages being frequently celebrated in it.
marry with a foreignI woman, nor conversely, under Hesiod (Oper. 800) recommends marrying on the
very severe penalties (Denlosth. c. ANreae. p. 1350); fourth day of the month,
but promixity by blood (a&Xtror'eta), or consanguinity (cruTyy'veta), was not, -with some few ex- iE R -EI-prn suVeS &yEcoe /s o lcoo tsOs'ru'
ceptions, a bar to marriage in any part of Greece; but whether he means the fourth from the begindirect lineal descent was. (Isaeus, cle Ciron. Aeer. ning or end of the month is doubtful. Euripides
p. 72.) Thus brothers were permitted to marry (Iphig. in Aul. 707) speaks as if the time of the
with sisters even, if not 4cosuO.rptLOs, or born from full moon were thought favourable,
the same mother, as Cimon did with Elpinice,'
though a connection of this sort appears to have oTav EXT1VS eVTrXI K AOS,
been looked on with abhorrence. (Becker, Clhari- in which he is confirmed by the expression 8iXoIcles, vol. ii. p. 448.) In the earlier periods of aqvsFdes firsrepca or the full-moon nights in Pillsociety, indeed, we can easily conceive that a spirit dar. (sth,. vii. 45.) That this prepossession, howof caste or family pride, and other causes such as ever, was not general and permanent appears from
the difficulties in the way of social intercourse would Proclus (ad Hesiod. Oper. 782), who informs ns
tend to make m-arriages frequent amongst near that the Athenians selected for marriages the times
relations and connections. (Compare N)~5smbers, of new moon (rsas wrpos or'vosov ilJE/pas), i. e.
c. xxxvi.) At Athens, however, in the case of a when the sun and moon were in conjunction.
father dying intestate, and without male children, There was also some difference of opinion, on
his heiress hacld no choice in;larriage; she was which it is not worth while to dilate, about the
compelled by lawv to marry her nearest kinsmani proper age for marrying; but generally speaking
not in the ascending line; and if the heiress were men were expected to marry betwveen 30) adl 35,
poor (f-Mrro-a) the nearest unmarried kinsman and women about 20 or rather before. (Plato, Leg.
either lmarried her or portioned her suitably to her vi. p. 785.)
rank. W'Yhen there were several coheiresses, they We proceed now to explain the usual prelimiwere respectivcly married to their kinsmen, the naries and accompaniments of marriage in variolis
nearest hbavin, the first choice. [EPICLERUS.] The parts of Greece. The most important prelimisnary