[527] CATULLUS, _Carmina_, LXII, 20-24; MARTIN'S translation, 89. See also CATULLUS, LVI and LXI, for other allusions to Roman wedding customs; and compare OVID, _Metamorphoses_, IV, 75-78; VIRGIL, _Eclogues_, VIII, 30, and SERVIUS, _Commentaria, ad hoc loc_. In general, ROSSBACH, _op. cit._, 328 ff., 359; MARQUARDT, _op. cit._, I, 37-55; FRIEDLÄNDER, _Sittengeschichte_, I, 463-66; BOUCHÉ-LECLERCQ, _Institutions romaines_, 468 ff.; BECKER, _Gallus_, 160, 161, 153-81; PLUTARCH, _Lives_, I, 69-73 (Romulus); SMITH, _op. cit._, II, 138 ff., 142 ff.; LETOURNEAU, _op. cit._, 124, 125; WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 386; DARGUN, _op. cit._, 100 ff.; MCLENNAN, _op. cit._, I, 13.
The symbol of capture is especially prominent in Celtic song and custom. As in the German epics, it was not thought unseemly for the daughter to marry the hero who had slain her father.[531] "According to tradition the Picts robbed the Gaels of their women, so that the latter were compelled to intermarry with aboriginal inhabitants of the land."[532] Near the beginning of last century the following marriage ceremony was customary in Wales: "On the morning of the wedding day the bridegroom, accompanied by his friends on horseback, demands the bride. Her friends, who are likewise on horseback, give a positive refusal, upon which a mock scuffle ensues. The bride, mounted behind her nearest kinsman, is carried off and is pursued by the bridegroom and his friends, with loud shouts. It is not uncommon on such an occasion to see two or three hundred sturdy Cambro-Britons riding at full speed, crossing and jostling, to the no small amusement of the spectators. When they have fatigued themselves and their horses, the bridegroom is supposed to overtake his bride. He leads her away in triumph, and the scene is concluded with feasting and festivity."[533] Still more real is the sham contest in Ireland. As late as the middle of last century, in mountain districts, the bridegroom "was compelled in honor, to run off with his betrothed, even when there was not the least need of it."[534] On the day of home-bringing, after the purchase-contract had been concluded, "the bridegroom and his friends rode out to meet the bride and her friends, at the place where the contract was made. Being come near each other the custom was of old to cast short darts at the company that attended the bride, but at such distance that seldom any hurt ensued. Yet it is not out of memory of man that the Lord of Hoath on such an occasion lost an eye."[535]