Same date.
I think I have sometimes observed to you in conversation, that upon
examining the biography of illustrious men, you will generally find some
female about them, in the relation of mother or wife or sister, to whose
instigation a great part of their merit is to be ascribed. You will find
a curious example of this in the case of Aspasia, the wife of Pericles.
She was a woman of the greatest beauty and the first genius. She taught
him, it is said, his refined maxims of policy, his lofty imperial
eloquence, nay, even composed the speeches on which so great a share of
his reputation was founded. The best men in Athens frequented her house
and brought their wives to receive lessons from her of economy and right
deportment. Socrates himself was her pupil in eloquence, and gives her
the honor of that funeral oration which he delivers in the "Menexenus"
of Plato. Aristophanes, indeed, abuses this famous lady, but Socrates
does her honor.
I wish some of our great men had such wives. By the account in your last
letter, it seems the women in Boston begin to think themselves able to
serve their country. What a pity it is that our Generals in the northern
districts had not Aspasias to their wives!
I believe the two Howes have not very great women for wives. If they
had, we should suffer more from their exertions than we do. This is our
good fortune. A woman of good sense would not let her husband spend five
weeks at sea in such a season of the year. A smart wife would have put
Howe in possession of Philadelphia a long time ago.