Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1874-03-26

Ii may be hard 10 gain and still
TO keep a lOwly, steadfast heart;
Yet he who loses has to fill
A harder and Il fruer part.
Glorious il is tO wear The crown
OF deserved and pure success;
He who knows how To fail has won
crown whose lnstre is not less.
Great may he he who can command
And rule with just and fender SWAY
YET is diviner wisdom taught
BETTER by him who can obey.
Blessed are those who die for God,
And earn the martyrs crown of light
Yet he who lives for God may be
4 greater conquerOr in Ills sight.
~Marriage Among the Ancien
= Greeks.
This admirable description of tn
marriage ceremony in ancient Greco
is extracted from Small's translation
of The Ancient City," study o
the religion, laws, and institutions o
Greece and Rome:
Among the Greeks the marriag,
ceremony consisted. so to speak. o.
three acts The first took place be
fore the hearth of the father; the
third before the hearth of the hus.
band; the second was the passage
from the one to the other.
|. In the paternsl dwelling. in
the presence of the future bride
groom, the father, surrounded ordi-
narilv Ivy his family, offers sacri-
fee The sacrifice conclnded, he de-
clares-pronOuncing a sacramental
formula-that he gives his daughter
to the young man. This declaration
is absolutely indispensable to the
marriage; for the young girl would
pot be able 10 go at once to worship
at the hearth of her husband, if her
father had not already separated her
from the paternal hearth. To enable
her to adopt her new religion, she
must be freed from every bond that
attaches her to her first religion.
2 The young girl is carried to
the house of the husband Some
times the husband himself conducts
her In certain cities the duty of
bringing her belongs TO one of those
men who. among the Greeks, we're
clothed with sacradotal character,
and who were called heralds The
bride was usually placed upon car;
her face was covered with 4 veil, and
on her head was a crown. The
crown, as we shall often have occa
sion TO see, was used in ali the cere-
monies Of this worship She was
dressed in white White was the
color of the vestments in all the re-
ligious acts. She was preceded by
torch-the nuptial torch. For the
whole distance they sang around her
religious hymns This hymn they
called the hynaeneal, and the impor-
tance Of this sacred chant was so
great that they gave its name to the
whole ceremony.
The bride dares not 90 of her own
accord into her new dwelling Her
husband must take her. aud simulate
a seizure by force. She must cry
out, and the women that accompany
her must pretend to defend her.
Why this rite2 Is 1t a symbol Of the
of the bridef This is hard
y probable; the moment for shame
has not vet come; for what is now to
Jake place is a religious ceremony.
Was it not to mark more strongly
han the wife, who was now to sacri-
ice to this fire, had herself no right
here, that she did not approach it of
Ter own free will. and That the mas
,er of the place and Of the god intro
iuced her by an act of his power?
However this may be, after feigned
struggle, the husband rsises her in
lis arme, and carries her through the
doorway, taking great care, however,
hat her feet do not tonch the sill.
What precedes is only prepara-
ion, prelude to the ceremony. The
'acred act now commences in the
louse.
3. They spproach the hearth: the
wife is brought into the presence Of
he domestic divinity She is sprin-
iled with the Iustral water She
ouches the sacred fire Prayers are
Finally, the husband and
wife share between themselves cake
,r a loaf.
This sortof light meal. which com
nences and ends with libation and
/ prayer, this sharing of nourish
nent 10 presence or the fire. puts the
husband and wife in religious COM
nunlon with the domestic gods.
We can understand, too, that such
/ marriage was indissoluble, and that
livorce was almost impossible. The
Roman law did, indeed. permit the
dissolution of the marriage by co.
'mptio, or by gSus. But the dissolu-
ion of the religious marriage was
Tery difficult. For that new sacred
ceremony was necessary, as religion
slone could separate what religion
lad united The effect of the con
orreotio could be destroyed only by
hf0rretio The husband and wife
Who wished to separate appeared for
he last time before the common
hearth. A priest and witnesses were
present. AS on the day of marriage,
| cake of wheaton -four was present
I'd to the husband and wife, but in
'tead of sharing it between them,
hey rejected it. Then, instead of
prayers, they pronounced formulas
'f a strange, severe, spiteful, fright
'ul character, a sort of malediction
~ which the wife renounced the wor
hip and gods of the husband. From
hat moment the tedious bond was
broken. The community of worship
having ceased, every other common
interest ceased to exist, and the mar
'iage was dissolved.