Bought women and in certain spots did place them,
Common to be and ready for all comers.
They naked stood: look well at them, my youth,--
Do not deceive yourself; aren't you well off?
You're ready, so are they: the door is open--
The price an obol: enter straight--there's
No nonsense here, no cheat or trickery;
But do just what you like, how you like.
You're off: wish her good-bye; she's no more claim on you."

In the early days antedating the Persian War, before the Athenians had
been corrupted by power and by extensive intercourse with the outside
world, it was regarded as shameful for a married man to associate with a
hetaera. When the husband was guilty of such conduct, the insulted wife
could obtain a decree of separation, which involved the return to the
wife's family of the full dowry, while the enmity of the wife's kindred
was visited upon the unfaithful husband. During the Golden Age of
Pericles, however, Athens departed from her earlier simplicity, and the
increase of wealth and the influx of foreigners swept away the
old-fashioned standards of morality. The influence of Pericles and
Aspasia on smaller minds seems to have been unfortunate. Reverential
regard for the marriage bond became a thing of the past, and hetairism
became the common practice. Almost all the great men of Athens had
relations with hetaersae; the young men gave themselves up to the life of
pleasure; and with the disruption of family ties began the downfall of
the State.

In Corinth, hetairism was invested with all the sanctity of religion,
and these votaries of pleasure enjoyed a distinction accorded them in no
other Greek city. When Xerxes was advancing against Hellas with his vast
armament, the courtesans of Corinth betook themselves in solemn
procession to the temple of Aphrodite, the patron deity of the city, and
implored her aid for the preservation of the fatherland, dedicating
their services to her in return for a favorable answer to their prayers,
and vowing to reward with their unpurchased embraces the victorious
warriors upon their return. The goddess was supposed to have heard their
petitions, and out of gratitude the Corinthians dedicated to Aphrodite a
painting, in which were represented various hetaerae who had supplicated
the goddess, while beneath were inscribed the following verses of
Simonides:

"These damsels, in behalf of Greece, and all
Their gallant