It is one of the most remarkable facts in the history of Love and of
social philosophy that Plato, the most modern of all ancient thinkers,
_foresaw the importance of pre-matrimonial acquaintance_ as the basis of
a rational and happy marriage choice long before any other writer.
Making allowance for the fact that Greek notions as to what is within
“the rules of modesty” differed from our own, the following passage
cannot be too deeply pondered: “People,” Plato tells us in the sixth
book of the _Laws_ (p. 771), “must be acquainted with those into whose
families and to whom they marry and are given in marriage; in such
matters as far as possible to avoid mistakes is all-important, and with
this serious purpose let games be instituted, in which youths and
maidens shall dance together, seeing and being seen naked, at a proper
age and on a suitable occasion, not transgressing the rules of modesty.”