ion. Young men and maidens join together in
these sports. Homer represented such scenes on the Shield of Achilles:
"Also did the lame god devise a dancing place like unto that which once
in wide Cnossos Daedalus wrought for Ariadne of the lovely tresses. There
were youths dancing and maidens of costly wooing, their hands upon one
another's wrists. Fine linen the maidens had on, and the youths
well-woven doublets, faintly glistening with oil. Fair wreaths had the
maidens, and the youths daggers of gold hanging from silver baldrics.
And now they would run round with deft feet exceeding lightly, as when a
potter sitting by his wheel that fitteth between his hands maketh trial
of it whether it will run: and now anon they would run in line to meet
each other." Such were their pastimes, and equally joyous were their
occupations. To the maidens seem to have been chiefly assigned the
outdoor tasks of the household, which would contribute to their physical
development. Thus the Princess Nausicaa and her girl friends wash in the
river the garments of fathers and brothers; and the Shield of Achilles
represented a vintage scene where "maidens and striplings in childish
glee bear the sweet fruit in plaited baskets, and in the midst of them a
boy made pleasant music on a clear-toned viol, and sang thereto a sweet
Linus-song, while the rest with feet falling together kept time with the
music and the song."

The education of the girls was of the simplest character. They grew up
in the apartment of the mother, and learned from her simple piety toward
the gods a modest bearing, skill in needlework, and efficiency in the
management of a household.

While enjoying a freedom far greater than that allowed to maidens in the
classical period, the Homeric girls did not take part in the feasts and
pastimes of court life. Thus the poet tells us that Nausicaa, who is a
perfect picture of the Greek girl in the springtime of her youth and
beauty, "retired to her chamber upon her return to the palace, and
supper was served to her by a nurse in her apartments," while Odysseus
was being graciously entertained by her father and mother in the court
below. Strict attention to the _convenances_ of their sex and station
was required of these primitive women; and the high-minded maiden
Nausicaa feared evil report should the stranger, Odysseus, be seen with
her in the streets of the city, as such intimacy would be a "shame" to
her, a maiden; while it was als