The Milesian women being at one period much addicted to suicide, a law was passed that all who died by their own hands should be exposed to the public; and this effectually prevented an evil, which no other means had been able to prevent. The customs of Sparta differed in many respects from the rest of Greece. When a match was decided upon, the mother, or nurse of the bride, or some other woman who presided over the arrangements, shaved the girl’s hair, dressed her in masculine attire, and left her alone in an apartment at evening. The lover, in his every-day clothes, sought an opportunity to enter by stealth, but took care to return to his own abode before daylight, that his absence might not be detected by his companions. In this manner only did custom allow them to visit their wives, until they became mothers. Lycurgus passed a law forbidding any dowry to be given to daughters, in order that marriage might take place from motives of affection only. Marriage was much encouraged in every part of Greece, and peculiarly so in Sparta. The age at which both sexes might marry was prescribed by law, and any man who lived without a wife beyond the limited time was liable to severe penalties. Once every winter, they were compelled to run round the forum without clothing, and sing a certain song, the words of which exposed them to ridicule; they were not allowed to be present at the exercises where beautiful young maidens contended; on a certain festival, the women were allowed to drag them round an altar, beating them with their fists; and young people were not required to treat them with the same degree of respect that belonged to fathers of families. Polygamy was not allowed, and divorces were extremely rare; but the laws encouraged husbands to lend their wives when they thought proper. Lycurgus reversed the Athenian custom, and allowed brother and sister of the same mother to marry, while he forbade it if they both had the same father. In Sparta there was a very ancient statue, called Venus Juno, to which mothers offered sacrifice on the occasion of a daughter’s marriage.