with myths, and finally, according to Catullus, received a seat on
Mount Helikon with the Muses.]

[A Greek bride was beautifully adorned for her marriage, and her
bridesmaids received holiday garments. Homer, Odyss. VI. 27.
Besides which, after the bath, which both bride and bridegroom were
obliged to take, she was anointed with sweet-smelling essences.
Thucyd. II. 15. Xenoph. Symp. II. 3.]

"We will conduct the maiden thither by the centre door, and there we
will enjoy a merry wedding-feast by the family hearth. Here, slavegirls,
come and form yourselves into two choruses. Half of your number take
the part of the youths; the other half that of the maidens, and sing us
Sappho's Hymenaeus. I will be the torch-bearer; that dignity is mine by
right. You must know, Bartja, that my family has an hereditary right
to carry the torches at the Eleusinian mysteries and we are therefore
called Daduchi or torch-bearers. Ho, slave! see that the door of the
andronitis is hung with flowers, and tell your comrades to meet us with
a shower of sweetmeats as we enter. That's right, Melitta; why, how did
you manage to get those lovely violet and myrtle marriage-crowns made so
quickly? The rain is streaming through the opening above. You see, Hymen
has persuaded Zeus to help him; so that not a single marriage-rite shall
be omitted. You could not take the bath, which ancient custom prescribes
for the bride and bridegroom on the morning of their wedding-day, so
you have only to stand here a moment and take the rain of Zeus as an
equivalent for the waters of the sacred spring. Now, girls, begin your
song. Let the maidens bewail the rosy days of childhood, and the youths
praise the lot of those who marry young."

Five well-practised treble voices now began to sing the chorus of
virgins in a sad and plaintive tone.

Suddenly the song was hushed, for a flash of lightning had shone down
through the aperture beneath which Kallias had stationed the bride
and bridegroom, followed by a loud peal of thunder. "See!" cried the
Daduchus, raising his hand to heaven, "Zeus himself has taken the
nuptial-torch, and sings the Hymenaeus for his favorites."

At dawn the next morning, Sappho and Bartja left the house and went
into the garden. After the violent storm which had raged all night, the
garden was looking as fresh and cheerful in the morning light as the
faces of the newly-married pair.

Bartja's anxiety for his friends, whom