On the mode of clothing in Doric states.

1. The next point which we have to consider is the mode of clothing in use among the Dorians; in which a peculiar taste was displayed; an ancient decorum and simplicity, equally removed from the splendour of Asiatics and the uncleanliness of barbarians. At the same time, however, they paid considerable attention to their personal appearance, although their manners did not require the body to be studiously and completely covered. A Dorian was the first who in the lists of Olympia threw off the heavy girdle, which the wrestlers of Homer had worn in common with those of barbarous countries, and ran naked to the goal; in fact a display of the naked form, when all covering was useless, and indeed inconvenient, was altogether in harmony with the Doric character. This reminds us of the nakedness of the Spartan young women, even in the time of Athenian civilization, which custom gave rise to the joke, that “the Spartans shewed foreigners their virgins “naked.” On this subject however it is necessary that we should enter into greater detail.

2. In the first place these words direct our attention to the different modes of life of the married and unmarried women among the Dorians.