constructive criticism on areas they needed improvement in, or sing songs about the boys who performed the best, sparking rivalries and desires to get stronger. Marriage When a woman reached the prime age for childbearing, she would have her head shaved and be dressed as a man by a bridesmaid before being brought to a dark room to wait for her bridegroom, who would sneak in the dead of night and sleep with her. This is said to have been done to teach moderation and to avoid tiredness from constant lovemaking. Men who abstained from marriage for too long were banned from attending the Gymnopaedia, were shunned, and were made to dance in a circle during the winter, singing a song shaming them for shirking their duty. Other measures Lycurgus himself was said to be mild, gentle, forgiving, and calm in temper, even when attacked; he was thought to have been extraordinarily sober and an extremely hard worker, all qualities that other Greeks admired in the Spartans; in this sense he was also the "founder" of the admirable qualities displayed by contemporary Spartans of later ages. Later changes to the institutions Some further refinements of the Spartan constitution came after Lycurgus. It turned out that sometimes the public speakers would pervert the sense of propositions and thus cause the people to vote foolishly, so the Gerousia reserved the right to dissolve the assembly if they saw this happening. A hundred and thirty years after the death of Lycurgus, a council of five ephors took executive power from the kings. When King Theopompus, in whose reign the ephors were established, was scolded by his wife for leaving his son less royal power than he had inherited, he replied: "No, it is greater, because it will last longer." With their decision-making power reduced, the Spartan kings were freed of the jealousy of the people. They never went through what happened in nearby Messene and Argos, where the kings held on so tight to every last bit of power that in the end, they would end up losing it all. Influences According to Plutarch, Lycurgus traveled to Crete, Asia Minor and possibly to Egypt before he drew up his constitution. The Cretan constitution was said to have influenced that of Lycurgus for Sparta. Another influence on his constitution was said to be his observance of the Ionian way of life, which attached more