MARK 
a magnificent wedding at Nadabatha, or Medaba, a city 
beyond Jordan, as they were bringing the bride with great 
folemnity to the dwelling of the bridegroom, and as the 
relations of the hufband went before her with inftruments 
of mufic and with arms, the Maccabees fell upon and 
difperfed them. 
In the ceremonies of marriage, the Hebrews pretend 
that they chiefly imitate Tobias’s wedding, which they 
look on as a model of a regular and happy marriage. 
However, the ceremonies we have defcribed are not very 
fimilar to what was then pradifed. Firft, Raguel con- 
fents that Tobias (hall have his daughter, and at the fame 
time puts Tobias’s hands into thofe of his daughter Sara, 
and gives him his blefling. This is the eflential cere¬ 
mony of the marriage. After this Raguel calls for pa¬ 
per, writes the contract, and has it figned by witnefl'es. 
Then the feaft begins, which is kept a whole fort¬ 
night ; though, according to the rules of the rabbins, they 
ought to have held it but three days, becaufe Sara was the 
■widow of feveral hufbands. Tob. x. 7. When the mar¬ 
ried couple and their relations are come into the houfe, 
they fit down to table, and the bridegroom begins to fing, 
as mufically as he can, a long blefling in Hebrew. (Buxtorf. 
Synag. Jud. cap. 28.) After fupper the molt honourable 
perfon in the company takes the bridegroom by the hand, < 
and, forming a circle with the reft, they all dance toge¬ 
ther. The women do the fame, but fepara'tely from the 
men. This dancing is a very ancient traditionary cuf- 
tom among them ; they call it “ the dance of the com¬ 
mandment',” pretending that God himfelf commanded it 
in the ceremony of marriage. 
Previous to leading the bride into the marriage-cham¬ 
ber, they rehearfe this blefling, in the prefence of ten per- 
fons of fufficient age: “Be thou blefied, O Lord our 
God, King of the World, who haft created all things for 
thy glory. Be thou blelfed, O Lord our God, creator of 
man. Be thou blefied, O Lord our God, who haft created 
man in thine own image and likenefs, and haft provided 
him a companion for ever. Be thou blefied, O Lord our 
God, creator of man. She that was barren fhall rejoice, 
in gathering her children into her bofom. Be thou blefied, 
O Lord our God, who makeft Sion rejoice in the multitude 
of its children. Replenilh with joy thefe two fpoufes, as 
thou didft replenilh man and woman in the garden of 
Eden. Be thou blefied, O Lord our God, who heapeft plea- 
fures upon the bridegroom and bride, and haft prepared 
for them joy, fongs, gladnefs, dancing, love, friend- 
fhip, peace, and brotherly kindnefs. Grant, O Lord, 
as foon as may be, that in the cities of Judah and in the 
places of Jerufalem may be heard fongs of joy, the voice 
of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice 
of the mutual love of fpoufes, and the voice of finging- 
children. Be thou blefied, O Lord our God, who re- 
pleniftieft with joy the bridegroom and the bride 1” The 
leading the bride into the marriage-chamber, is, in the 
opinion of the rabbins, what completes the marriage. The 
woman is then a complete bride j and the ceremonies are 
ended. C.almet's Did. of the Bible. 
The firft inhabitants of Greece lived together without 
marriage. Cecrops, king of Athens, is laid to have been 
the firft author of this honourable inftitution among that 
people. After the commonwealths of Greece were fet¬ 
tled, marriage was very much encouraged by their laws, 
and the abftaining from it was difcountenanced, and in 
many places punilhed. The Lacedaemonians were very 
remarkable for their feverity towards thofe who deferred 
marriage beyond a limited time, as well as to thofe who 
wholly abftained from it. The Athenians had an exprefs 
law, that all commanders, orators, and perfons entrufted 
with any public affairs, (hould be married men. Poly¬ 
gamy was not commonly tolerated in Greece. The time 
of marriage was not the fame in all places ; the Spartans 
were not permitted to marry till they arrived at their full 
ftrength; the reafon afligned for this cullom by Lycur- 
gus was, that the Spartan children might be Itrong and 
I A G E. 407 
vigorous; and the Athenian laws are faid to have once 
ordered, that men fhould not marry till thirty-five years 
of age. The feafon of the year which they preferred for 
this purpofe was the winter ; and particularly the month 
of January, called Gamelion. The ufual ceremony in 
promifing fidelity was killing each other, or giving their 
right hands, which was a general form of ratifying all 
agreements. Before the marriage could be folemnized, 
the gods were to be confulted, and their afliltance im¬ 
plored by prayers and facrifices, which were offered to 
fome of the deities that fuperintended thefe affairs, by the 
parents, or neareft relations of the perfons to be married. 
When the vidim was opened, the gall was taken out and 
thrown behind the altar, as being the feat of anger and 
malice, and therefore the averfion of all the deities who 
had the care of love, as well as thofe who became their 
votaries. For a few other particulars, fee the article 
Law, vol. xi. p. 356. 
The following defcription of the marriages of the mo¬ 
dern Greeks is from An Effay on certain Points of Re- 
femblance between the Ancient and Modern Greeks, by 
the Hon.F. S. North Douglas; 1815. It will remind the 
reader of what we have already related of the marriages 
of the Jews in the moft remote ages. “ The Greek girls 
are fo Itrietly confined to their homes, that few of their 
marriages are founded in perfonal acquaintance and at¬ 
tachment. Circumftances of relationlhip, neighbour¬ 
hood, or intereft, are the more ufual motives; and the 
agreement of the refpedive parents often made at the 
birth of the child, or even at their own marriage, can be 
but little influenced by 
Le rapport des efprits et des cceurs, 
Des lentimens, des gouts, et des humeurs; (Voltaire.) 
which we juftly confider as fo neceflary to the happinefa 
of a conjugal life. Inftances, however, fometimes occur, 
in which the report of others, or his own accidental 
knowledge, may induce a young Greek to form an opi¬ 
nion for himfelf; and he then applies to fome refpedable 
matron, probably a relation of the girl, who afl'umes the 
name and charade; - of the ancient Proxenete ; carries 
meflages and letters; or brings him accounts of the per¬ 
fon and manners of his beloved. From the moment that 
the treaty is completed, it is cuftomary to give the be¬ 
trothed couple the liberty of feeing each other; and there 
have been examples among the lower clafi'es, where the 
young pair have been permitted even to ileep together for 
years without the facred girdle having ever been undonej 
fo powerful is the fear of excommunication, which, on. 
fuch a tranfgrefiion, would certainly be levelled at their 
heads. 
“On the eve of the marriage, the bride is conducted 
by her young female friends to the bath ; and the next 
morning, as foon as the dawn begins to appear, the lover, 
in his moft fplendid drefs, accompanied by the deareft 
and handfomeft of his companions, proceeds to the houfe 
of her parents : there the proceflion begins ; firft, by a 
crowd of young men, with guitars and cymbals, dancing 
and hallooing, rather than finging, in praife of the fa¬ 
mily, the virtues, and the beauty, of the young pair; or 
alluding in fongs, fometimes not ftridly regulated by de¬ 
corum, to the ceremonies of the happy day. At fome dis¬ 
tance from her noify heralds, the bride herfelf, her arms 
covered with bracelets, and her bofom with necklaces, is 
fupported between her father and her bridewoman with 
meafured fteps and eyes fixed upon the ground. If (he 
expeded the fate of Iphigenia, her repugnance could not 
feem more genuine, nor her march more flow. When 
fhe pafles before the houfes of her acquaintance, flowers, 
nuts, and cakes, are (flowered from the windows, while 
words of good omen and vows for her profperity attend 
her as (he proceeds. The train is then doled by the mo¬ 
ther of the bride, and other matrons. During the cere¬ 
mony itfelf, two chaplets of lilies and ears of corn (em¬ 
blems of purity and abundance) are placed by the priefit 
1 alternately 
