, while
they permit all things except outrage in the love of youths, certainly
distinguish the forbidden by a thin wall of partition from the
sanctioned, for they allow embraces and a common couch to lovers."

In Crete the paiderastic institutions were even more elaborate than at
Sparta. The lover was called _Philetor_, and the beloved one _Kleinos_.
When a man wished to attach to himself a youth in the recognised bonds
of friendship, he took him away from his home, with a pretence of force,
but not without the connivance, in most cases, of his friends.[37] For
two months the pair lived together among the hills, hunting and fishing.
Then the _Philetor_ gave gifts to the youth, and suffered him to return
to his relatives. If the _Kleinos_ (illustrious or laudable) had
received insult or ill-treatment during the probationary weeks, he now
could get redress at law. If he was satisfied with the conduct of his
would-be comrade, he changed his title from _Kleinos_ to _Parastates_
(comrade and bystander in the ranks of battle and life), returned to
the _Philetor_, and lived thenceforward in close bonds of public
intimacy with him.

* * * * *

The primitive simplicity and regularity of these customs make it appear
strange to modern minds; nor is it easy to understand how they should
ever have been wholly free from blame. Yet we must remember the
influences which prevalent opinion and ancient tradition both contribute
toward preserving a delicate sense of honour under circumstances of
apparent difficulty. The careful reading of one _Life_ by Plutarch,
that, for instance, of Cleomenes or that of Agis, will have more effect
in presenting the realities of Dorian existence to our imagination than
any amount of speculative disquisition. Moreover, a Dorian was exposed
to almost absolute publicity. He had no chance of hiding from his
fellow-citizens the secrets of his private life. It was not, therefore,
till the social and political complexion of the whole nation became
corrupt that the institutions just described encouraged profligacy.[38]
That the Spartans and the Cretans degenerated from their primitive ideal
is manifest from the severe critiques of the philosophers. Plato, while
passing a deliberate censure on the Cretans for the introduction of
paiderastia into Greece,[39] remarks that _syssitia_, or meals in
common, and _gymnasia_ are favourable to the perversion of the passions.
Aristotle, in a