She put on a bright yellow veil and shoes of the same
color, and submitted to the solemn religious rites that were to make
her a wife. The pair walked around the altar hand in hand, received the
congratulations of their friends, and the bride, taken with apparent
force from the arms of her mother, as the Sabine women were taken in
the days of Romulus, was conducted to her new home carrying a distaff
and a spindle, emblems of the industry that was thought necessary in
the household work that she was to perform or direct. Strong men lifted
her over the threshold, lest her foot should trip upon it, and her
husband saluted her with fire and water, symbolic of welcome, after
which he presented her the keys. A feast was then given to the entire
train of friends and relatives, arid probably the song was sung of
which _Talasia_ was the refrain. [Footnote: See page 22.]
Sometimes the husband gave another entertainment the next day, and
there were other religious rites after which the new wife took her
proud position as mater-familias, sharing the honors of her husband,
and presiding over the household.
The wives and daughters made the cloth and the dresses of the
household, in which they had ample occupation, but their labors did not
end there.
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