As soon as she entered, they sprinkled her with water, and delivered the keys of the house, to show that she was intrusted with the management of the family; and a sheep-skin was spread before her, indicating that she was to work in wool. Both she and her husband were required to touch fire and water; and with the water their feet were afterward bathed. In the early ages they put a yoke about the neck of the young couple, as an emblem of the mutual assistance they were expected to render each other in the cares and duties of life. The Latin word _conjugium_, a yoke, is the origin of our word conjugial. The bridegroom feasted the relations, friends, and attendants of himself and bride. He was placed at the head of the table, and the bride was laid in his bosom. The feast was distinguished for the abundance, variety, and delicacy of the refreshments. It was accompanied with music. The guests sung to the honor of the newly married an epithalamium, beginning and ending with acclamations, in which was often repeated the name of _Thalassius_. The following circumstance is supposed to have been the origin of this custom: when the Sabine women were forcibly carried to the Roman camp, one of them, very remarkable for her youthful beauty, attracted so much attention, that quarrels were likely to ensue concerning her. The men who carried her, wishing to avoid any such contention, thought of exclaiming aloud that they were carrying her to Thalassius, a handsome and brave young man, exceedingly beloved by the people. As soon as this was proclaimed, the soldiers withdrew all opposition, and rent the air with acclamations of the hero’s name. The marriage thus prepared for Thalassius proved so happy and prosperous, that the Romans ever after, in their epithalamia, were accustomed to wish the newly-married pair a destiny like his. The bride was conducted to her apartment by matrons, who had been married to only one husband. The bridegroom scattered nuts among the boys, and the bride consecrated her dolls and playthings to Venus, thereby intimating that they relinquished the sports of childhood. When the guests departed, small presents were distributed among them. Next day another entertainment was given, when presents were sent to the bride by relations and friends, and she performed certain sacred rites appropriate to the mistress of a family. The goods which a woman brought her husband beside her dowry were called _bona paraphernalia_.