TERPSICHORE. 193

garments, till he died. This behaviour of their wo­
men was more afflicting to the Athenians than the
misfortune which preceded it; all however they could
do was to make them afterwards assume the Ionian
dress. Before this incident, the women of Athens
wore the Doric vest, which much resembles the Co­
rinthian ; that they might have no occasion for clasps,
they obliged them to wear linen tunies.

LXXXVIII. It seems reasonable to believe, that
this vest was not originally Ionian but Carian : for­
merly the dress of the Grecian females was univer­
sally the same with what we now call Dorian. It is
reported, that the Argives and the ^Sginetae, in oppo­
sition to the above ordinance of the Athenians, direct­
ed their women to wear clasps, almost twice as large
as usual, and ordained these to be the particular vo­
tive offering made by the women, in the temples of
the above divinities. They were suffered to offer there
nothing which was Attic; oven the common earthen
vessels were prohibited, of which they were allowed
to use none but what were made in their own country.
Such, even to my time, has been the contradictory
spirit of the women of Argos and iEgina, with respect
to those of Athens, that the former have persevered
in wearing their clasps larger than before.

LXXXIX. This which I have related, was the ori­
gin of the animosity between the people of Athens and
iEgina. The latterf still having in mind the old griev­
ance of the statues, readily yielded to the solicitations
of the Thebans, and assisted the Basotians, by ravaging
the coasts of Attica. Whilst the Athenians were pre­
paring to revenge the injury, they were warned by a
communication from the Delphic oracle to refrain from
all hostilities with the people of iEgina for the space
of thirty years: at the termination of this period they
were to erect a fane to Eacus, and might then com­
mence offensive operations against the iEginetas with
success; but if they immediately began hostilities, al­
though they would do the enemy essential injury, and
finally subdue them, they would in the interval suffer
much themselves. On receiving this communication
from the oracle, the Athenians erected a sacred edifice