As the Greeks emerged from the barbarity of the heroic ages, among other
articles of culture, they began to bestow more attention on the
convenience and elegance of dress. At Athens, the ladies commonly employ
the whole morning in dressing themselves in a decent and becoming
manner; their toilet consisted in paints and washes, of such a nature as
to cleanse and beautify the skin, and they took great care to clean
their teeth, an article too much neglected: some also blackened their
eyebrows, and, if necessary, supplied the deficiency of the vermillion
on their lips, by a paint said to have been exceedingly beautiful. At
this time the women in the Greek islands make much use of a paint which
they call Sulama, which imparts a beautiful redness to the cheeks, and
gives the skin a remarkable gloss. Possibly this may be the same with
that made use of in the times we are considering; but however this be,
some of the Greek ladies at present gild their faces all over on the day
of their marriage, and consider this coating as an irresistible charm;
and in the island of Scios, their dress does not a little resemble that
of ancient Sparta, for they go with their bosoms uncovered, and with
gowns which only reach to the calf of their leg, in order to show their
fine garters, which are commonly red ribbons curiously embroidered. But
to return to ancient Greece; the ladies spent likewise a part of their
time in composing head-dresses, and though we have reason to suppose
that they were not then so preposterously fantastic as those presently
composed by a Parisian milliner, yet they were probably objects of no
small industry and attention, especially as we find that they then dyed
their hair, perfumed it with the most costly essences, and by the means
of hot irons disposed of it in curls, as fancy or fashion directed.
Their clothes were made of stuffs so extremely light and fine as to show
their shapes without offending against the rules of decency. At Sparta,
the case was widely different; we shall not describe the dress of the
women; it is sufficient to say that it has been loudly complained of by
almost every ancient author who has treated on the subject.