Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 1.2.3 · 1.2.3
A crowd gathers to watch
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Πολὺ δὲ πλῆθος ἐπὶ τὴν θέαν, πολὺ μὲν ἐγχώριον, πολὺ δὲ ξενικόν· καὶ γὰρ ἔθος ἦν ⟨ἐν⟩ ἐκείνῃ τῇ πανηγύρει καὶ νυμφίους ταῖς παρθένοις εὑρίσκεσθαι καὶ γυναῖκας τοῖς ἐφήβοις.
A great crowd came to watch, many from the city and many from abroad, for it was the custom at that festival for husbands to be found for the girls and wives for the young men.
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The setting
Book 1, chapter 2. Who came to see the procession, and why.
A note on this passage
πανήγυρις means "a gathering of all," a festival that drew people from outside the city as well as from it. Artemis watched over girls until they married, and a girl about to marry made offerings to her. In an epigram of the Greek Anthology, Timareta dedicates her dolls and the other things of her girlhood to Artemis before her wedding (Greek Anthology 6.280).
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