o a "shame" for a married woman to go
alone into the presence of men, even when in her own house, though she
could enter their presence when attended by her handmaidens. Thus
Penelope is followed by her maidens when she goes to the hall of the men
to hear the minstrel Phemius. "Bid Antinoe and Hippodamia," says she,
"come to stand by my side in the halls, for alone I will not go among
men, for I am ashamed." Nor did Helen and Andromache ever appear in
public without their handmaidens. In seeming opposition to this
excessive modesty was that office of hospitality which ofttimes required
young women to bathe and anoint the distinguished strangers who were
guests in the house. Thus Polycaste, the beautiful daughter of Nestor,
bathed and anointed Telemachus, and put on him a cloak and vest. Helen
performed like offices for Odysseus when he came in disguise into Troy,
and Circe later for the same hero. Though the poet's statements may at
times, in matters of outward appearance, do violence to modern social
rules, yet, because life in heroic times was simpler and less
conventional, there could innocently be greater freedom of expression
between the sexes regarding many matters which are tabooed in good
society in this very conventional age. Hence such passages as those
cited are to be taken rather as an evidence of the innocence and
ingenuousness of Homer's maidens than as an imputation of lack of
modesty.

There are many indications pointing to the universal beauty of Homeric
women. Thus a favorite epithet of the country is "Hellas, famed for fair
women." There are also numerous epithets applied to Homeric characters
significant of beauty, as "fair in form," "with beautiful cheeks," "with
beautiful locks," "with beautiful breasts," and the like, demonstrating
the universal love of physical beauty as well as the prevalence of
beautiful types.

Marriage was a highly honorable estate, and both young men and maidens
looked forward to it as a natural and desirable step in the sequence of
life. The preliminaries were of a distinctly patriarchal type. The
marriage was usually a matter of arrangement between the suitor and his
intended father-in-law. Sometimes a man might win his bride by heroic
deed or personal merit; but usually the successful suitor was he who
brought the most costly wedding gifts. Thus the characteristic feature
was wife purchase. Usually these gifts were offered to the bride's
father or family; but in the cas