EEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}, and these were chosen
for the symmetry of their shape, and the vigour of their complexion.
Athenian matrons, of great age, also accompanied them in the same
equipage.

The grown and robust men formed the second class. They were armed at all
points, and had bucklers and lances. After them came the strangers that
inhabited Athens, carrying mattocks, instruments proper for tillage. Next
followed the Athenian women of the same age, attended by the foreigners of
their own sex, carrying vessels in their hands for the drawing of water.

The third class was composed of the young persons of both sexes, selected
from the best families in the city. The young men wore vests, with crowns
upon their heads, and sang a peculiar hymn in honour of the goddess. The
maids carried baskets, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}, in which were placed the sacred utensils
proper to the ceremony, covered with veils to keep them from the sight of
the spectators. The person, to whose care those sacred things were
intrusted, was bound to observe a strict continence for several days
before he touched them, or distributed them to the Athenian virgins;(55)
or rather, as Demosthenes says, his whole life and conduct ought to have
been a perfect model of virtue and purity. It was a high honour for a
young woman to be chosen for so noble and august an office, and an
insupportable affront to be deemed unworthy of it. We shall see that
Hipparchus offered this indignity to the sister of Harmodius, which
extremely incensed the conspirators against the Pisistratidae. These
Athenian virgins were followed by the foreign young women, who carried
umbrellas and seats for them.

The children of both sexes closed the pomp of the procession.

In this august ceremony, the {~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} were appointed to sing certain verses
of Homer; a manifest proof of the estimation in which the works of that
poet were held, even with regard to religion. Hipparchus, son of
Pisistratus, first introduced that custom.

I have observed elsewhere,(56) that in the g