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Why does the husband approach his bride for
the first time, not with a light, but in darkness?
Is it because he has a feeling of modest respect,
since he regards her as not his own before his union
with her? Or is he accustoming himself to approach
even his own wife with modesty?
Or, as Solon1 has given directions that the bride
shall nibble a quince before entering the bridal
chamber, in order that the first greeting may not
be disagreeable nor unpleasant, even so did the
Roman legislator, if there was anything abnormal
or disagreeable connected with the body, keep it
concealed?
Or is this that is done a manner of casting infamy
[p. 103]
upon unlawful amours, since even lawful love has a
certain opprobrium connected with it?
1 Cf. Moralia, 138 d; Life of Solon, chap. xx. (89 c).
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. 4.
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