DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0614
u86
OV THE MISCELLANY CUSTOMS 01' GREECE.
ed upon as so many pledges for their good behaviour, without which
they thought it dangerous to commit to them the management of public
trusts.
Polygamy was not commonly tolerated in Greece, for marriage was
thought to be a conjunction of one man with one woman : whence some
will have ydiiog derived rf&gd to 8uo a^a shcu, from two becoming one.
When Herodotus reports that Anaxandridas the Spartan had two wives,
he remarks that it was contrary to the custom of Sparta (1). The rest of
the Grecian cities did, for the most part, agree herein with the Lacedae-
monians ; only upon some emergent occasions, when their men had been
destroyed by war, or other calamities, toleration was granted for marry-
ing more wives ; an instance whereof we have at Athens in Euripides'?
time, who, as some say, conceived an hatred against the whole sex, for
which he is famous in story, by being harassed with two wives at once (2).
Socrates is said (o have been married to Xantippe and Myrto at the same
time (3) ; and Athenaeus concludes it was then reputed no scandal, be-
cause we never find any of his enemies casting it in his teeth (4) ; but
some think the matter of fact may be justly called into question ; and, in
Plutarch's opinion. Panetius of Rhodes, ixavwg aVrsi^xs, has fully confu-
ted it in his discourse concerning Socrates (5).
The time of marriage was not the same in all places : the Spartans
were not permitted to marry till they arrived at their full strength (6) ;
and though 1 do not find what was the exact number of years they were
confined to, yet it appears from one of Lycurgus's sayings, that both men
nnd women were limited in this affair ; which that lawgiver being asked
the reason of, said, his design was, that the Spartan children might be
strong and vigorous. The Athenian laws are said once to have ordered
that men should not marry till above thirty-five }'ears of age ; for human
life being divided by Solon into ten weeks (e§5o|x«5es,) he affirmed, in ha-
rum hebdomadum quinta maluritatem ad stirpem re.linquendam homini in-
esse; that in the fifth of these weeks men were of ripeness to multiply
their kind (7) ; but this depended upon the humour of every lawgiver,
nothing being generally agreed to in this matter. Aristotle (8) thought
thirty-seven a good age, Plato thirty ; and Hesiod was much of the same
judgment, for thus he advises his friend :
ClpjUGC (Ts yjVCUKA TiOf 7T0TI oTkCV iyiT^tl,
JvlifTE rpinKovTuiv iriw /udhct Tro^*.' ewoxswav,
Mrfr' iTrtSiU ixiKtt 7roKha.' ytL/uc; cTs tci a>gto; stoc (9).
The time to enter on a married life
Is about thirty, then bring home a wife;
But don't delay too late, or wed (oo young,
Since strength and prudence to this state belong. j.
Women married sooner than men ; some of the old Athenian laws per-
mitted them to marry at twenty-six, Aristotle at eighteen, Hesiod at fif-
teen :
H £% ywvnT'nof tiQun, 7ZifA7r<ru> <fe yct(jioi<To (10).
A wife when fifteen choose, then let her wed,
She'll then enjoy the rapturous marriage-bed.
,1) Lib. v. (6) Xenophon de Repub. Lacectem.
^2) Gellius Noct. Attic, lib. xv. cap. 20. (7) Censorinus de die natali, cap. 14.
(3) Diogenes Laertius Socrate. (8)Polit. lib. vii. cap. 16.
(4) Lib. xiii. (9) Ep7- *ai ILuij. 3'. 313.
(5) Plutarchra Pericle. (10) Ibid. 316,
OV THE MISCELLANY CUSTOMS 01' GREECE.
ed upon as so many pledges for their good behaviour, without which
they thought it dangerous to commit to them the management of public
trusts.
Polygamy was not commonly tolerated in Greece, for marriage was
thought to be a conjunction of one man with one woman : whence some
will have ydiiog derived rf&gd to 8uo a^a shcu, from two becoming one.
When Herodotus reports that Anaxandridas the Spartan had two wives,
he remarks that it was contrary to the custom of Sparta (1). The rest of
the Grecian cities did, for the most part, agree herein with the Lacedae-
monians ; only upon some emergent occasions, when their men had been
destroyed by war, or other calamities, toleration was granted for marry-
ing more wives ; an instance whereof we have at Athens in Euripides'?
time, who, as some say, conceived an hatred against the whole sex, for
which he is famous in story, by being harassed with two wives at once (2).
Socrates is said (o have been married to Xantippe and Myrto at the same
time (3) ; and Athenaeus concludes it was then reputed no scandal, be-
cause we never find any of his enemies casting it in his teeth (4) ; but
some think the matter of fact may be justly called into question ; and, in
Plutarch's opinion. Panetius of Rhodes, ixavwg aVrsi^xs, has fully confu-
ted it in his discourse concerning Socrates (5).
The time of marriage was not the same in all places : the Spartans
were not permitted to marry till they arrived at their full strength (6) ;
and though 1 do not find what was the exact number of years they were
confined to, yet it appears from one of Lycurgus's sayings, that both men
nnd women were limited in this affair ; which that lawgiver being asked
the reason of, said, his design was, that the Spartan children might be
strong and vigorous. The Athenian laws are said once to have ordered
that men should not marry till above thirty-five }'ears of age ; for human
life being divided by Solon into ten weeks (e§5o|x«5es,) he affirmed, in ha-
rum hebdomadum quinta maluritatem ad stirpem re.linquendam homini in-
esse; that in the fifth of these weeks men were of ripeness to multiply
their kind (7) ; but this depended upon the humour of every lawgiver,
nothing being generally agreed to in this matter. Aristotle (8) thought
thirty-seven a good age, Plato thirty ; and Hesiod was much of the same
judgment, for thus he advises his friend :
ClpjUGC (Ts yjVCUKA TiOf 7T0TI oTkCV iyiT^tl,
JvlifTE rpinKovTuiv iriw /udhct Tro^*.' ewoxswav,
Mrfr' iTrtSiU ixiKtt 7roKha.' ytL/uc; cTs tci a>gto; stoc (9).
The time to enter on a married life
Is about thirty, then bring home a wife;
But don't delay too late, or wed (oo young,
Since strength and prudence to this state belong. j.
Women married sooner than men ; some of the old Athenian laws per-
mitted them to marry at twenty-six, Aristotle at eighteen, Hesiod at fif-
teen :
H £% ywvnT'nof tiQun, 7ZifA7r<ru> <fe yct(jioi<To (10).
A wife when fifteen choose, then let her wed,
She'll then enjoy the rapturous marriage-bed.
,1) Lib. v. (6) Xenophon de Repub. Lacectem.
^2) Gellius Noct. Attic, lib. xv. cap. 20. (7) Censorinus de die natali, cap. 14.
(3) Diogenes Laertius Socrate. (8)Polit. lib. vii. cap. 16.
(4) Lib. xiii. (9) Ep7- *ai ILuij. 3'. 313.
(5) Plutarchra Pericle. (10) Ibid. 316,