e female friends of both families; and
a like number of members of the family of either sex, and no man shall
spend more than his means will allow; he who is of the richest class
may spend a mina,--he who is of the second, half a mina, and in the same
proportion as the census of each decreases: all men shall praise him who
is obedient to the law; but he who is disobedient shall be punished
by the guardians of the law as a man wanting in true taste, and
uninstructed in the laws of bridal song. Drunkenness is always improper,
except at the festivals of the God who gave wine; and peculiarly
dangerous, when a man is engaged in the business of marriage; at such
a crisis of their lives a bride and bridegroom ought to have all their
wits about them--they ought to take care that their offspring may be
born of reasonable beings; for on what day or night Heaven will give
them increase, who can say? Moreover, they ought not to begetting
children when their bodies are dissipated by intoxication, but their
offspring should be compact and solid, quiet and compounded properly;
whereas the drunkard is all abroad in all his actions, and beside
himself both in body and soul. Wherefore, also, the drunken man is bad
and unsteady in sowing the seed of increase, and is likely to beget
offspring who will be unstable and untrustworthy, and cannot be expected
to walk straight either in body or mind. Hence during the whole year
and all his life long, and especially while he is begetting children, he
ought to take care and not intentionally do what is injurious to health,
or what involves insolence and wrong; for he cannot help leaving the
impression of himself on the souls and bodies of his offspring, and he
begets children in every way inferior. And especially on the day
and night of marriage should a man abstain from such things. For the
beginning, which is also a God dwelling in man, preserves all things,
if it meet with proper respect from each individual. He who marries is
further to consider, that one of the two houses in the lot is the nest
and nursery of his young, and there he is to marry and make a home
for himself and bring up his children, going away from his father and
mother. For in friendships there must be some degree of desire, in order
to cement and bind together diversities of character; but excessive
intercourse not having the desire which is created by time, insensibly
dissolves friendships from a feeling of satiety; wherefore