were the principal virtues of women. Moral
lapses by men were frequent, and the same standard of marital rectitude
was not required from them as from the women of the heroic days.

The social manners of the time, and especially the elevated position of
the matron, may be gathered from Homer's account of Telemachus's
reception at the palace of King Menelaus in Sparta. He and his friend
Pisistratus are conducted into the great hall, where, after having
bathed and anointed themselves and put on fresh raiment, they are
received by their host, Menelaus. They are placed on chairs beside him,
and a repast is brought, of which they are invited to partake. Menelaus
does not yet know who his guests are, but he has observed that
Telemachus weeps when Odysseus is mentioned in conversation.

While he is pondering on this, Helen comes forth into the hall from her
"fragrant vaulted chamber" in the inner or woman's part of the house.
With her are three handmaids, one of whom sets for her the well-wrought
chair, a second brings a rug of soft wool, while the third places at her
side a silver basket on wheels, across which is laid a golden distaff
charged with wool of violet blue. Helen immediately takes a leading part
in the entertainment of the guests, one of whom, with woman's intuition,
she is the first to recognize, and they converse far into the night.
Then good cheer is spread before them, and Helen casts into the wine
whereof they drink "a drug to lull all pain and anger and bring
forgetfulness to every sorrow." Presently Helen bids her handmaids show
with torches the guests to their beds beneath the corridors, where
bedsteads have been set with purple blankets and coverlets and thin
mantles upon them.

Here, in her royal palace, Helen is in every sense a queen. Endowed with
charms of intellect, as well as of person, she regulates the life and
determines the tone of the society about her; and she is but an example
of the high social position of the Homeric women.

The Homeric matron had as her regular duties the management of the
household, and was trained in every domestic occupation. Spinning and
weaving were her chief accomplishments, and all the Homeric heroines
were highly skilled in the textile arts. The garments worn by the men
were fashioned at home by handmaidens under the superintendence of their
mistress, who herself engaged in the work. Penelope had fifty slave
maidens to direct in the various duties of the househo