XII. THE WOMEN OF CEOS
It was a custom for the maidens of Ceos to go in
a company to the public shrines and spend the day
[p. 511]
together, and their suitors watched their sports and
dances. At evening they went by turns to each one's
home and waited upon one another's parents and
brothers even to washing their feet. Very often
more than one youth would be in love with one maid,
but their love was so orderly and so controlled by
custom, that when the girl became engaged to one,
the others ceased their attentions at once. The net
result of this orderly behaviour on the part of the
women was that there was no memory of a case of
adultery or seduction in that country for the space
of seven hundred years.