Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/156

 140 HISTORY OF GREECE. tion and the consequent multiplication of individual acquisj tions. 1 It has been already mentioned that Solon forbade the sale of daughters or sisters into slavery, by fathers or brothers, a prohi- bition which shows how much females had before been looked upon as articles of property. And it would seem that before his time the violation of a free woman must have been punished at the discretion of the magistrates ; for we are told that he was the first who enacted a penalty of one hundred drachms against the offender, and twenty drachms against the seducer of a free woman. 2 Moreover, it is said that he forbade a bride when given in marriage to carry with her any personal ornaments and appurtenances, except to the extent of three robes and certain matters of furniture not very valuable. 3 Solon farther imposed upon women several restraints in regard to proceedings at the obsequies of deceased relatives : he forbade profuse demonstra- tions of sorrow, singing of composed dirges, and costly sacrifices and contributions ; he limited strictly the quantity of meat and drink admissible for the funeral banquet, and prohibited nocturnal exit, except in a car and with a light. It appears that both in Greece and Rome, the feelings of duty and affection on the part of surviving relatives prompted them to ruinous expense in a funeral, as well as to unmeasured effusions both of grief and conviviality; and the general necessity experienced for inter- ference of the law is attested by the remark of Plutarch, that similar prohibitions to those enacted by Solon were likewise in force at his native town of Chaeroneia. 4 1 Plutarch, Solon, 21. TU xpf/nara, KT/jfiara TUV EXOVTUV 'According to JEschines (cont Timarch. pp. 16-78), the punishment enacted by Solon against the irpoayw-yde, or procurer, in such cases of seduc tion, -*as death. 3 Plutarch, Solon, 20. These tyepval were independent of the dowry of the bride, for which the husband, when he received it, commonly gave secu- rity, and repaid it in the event of his wife's death : see Bunsen, DC Juro Hered. Ath. p. 43. 4 Plutarch, /. c. The Solonian restrictions on the subject of funerals wero to a great degree copied in the twelve tables at Rome : see Cicero, De Legg. B, 23, 24. He esteems it a right thing to put the rich and the poor on a level in respect to funeral ceremonies. Plato follows an opposite idea, and