woman, the most precious of all acquisitions. For if Medea was an
objectionable person, surely Penelope was an excellent creature. Does
anyone abuse Clytemnestra? I oppose the admirable Alcestis. But perhaps
someone may abuse Phaedra; then I say, by Zeus! what a capital person
was.... Oh, dear! the catalogue of good women is already exhausted,
while there remains a crowd of bad ones that might be mentioned."
"Woman's a necessary and undying evil," says Philemon; and in another
fragment:
"A good wife's duty 'tis, Nicostratus,
Not to command, but to obey her spouse;
Most mischievous a wife who rules her husband."
Menander, the greatest representative of the New Comedy, has been
compared to a mirror, so clear were the images he presented of human
life. His epigrammatic sayings are justly famous, and many of them refer
to woman. "Manner, not money, makes a woman's charm," says he in one
passage; and in another:
"When thou fair woman seest, marvel not;
Great beauty's oft to countless faults allied."
"Where women are, there every ill is found," is still another
disparaging sentiment, as is his repetition of the frequent gibe at
marriage:
"Marriage, if truth be told (of this be sure),
An evil is--but one we must endure."
Yet the poet was also appreciative of the good qualities in woman, as is
seen in the sentiment: "A good woman is the rudder of her household;"
with which we may compare the words of another poet:
"A sympathetic wife is man's chiefest treasure;"
and at times Menander notes how even a woman of serious faults may prove
to be the greatest blessing:
"How burdensome a wife extravagant;
Not as he would may he who's ta'en her live.
Yet this of good she has: she bears him children;
She watches o'er his couch, if he be sick,
With tender care; she's ever by his side
When fortune frowns; and should he chance to die,
The last sad rites with honor due she pays."
Surely a touching portraiture of woman's gentle ministry, and worthy to
be compared with Scott's famous lines! In spite of the numerous
complaints against woman, the plays of the New Comedy usually ended in a
happy marriage--the wild youth falls in love with the penniless maiden,
reforms, discovers her to be wellborn, and wins over the angry parent;
then follow joyous wedding festivities, and happiness ever afterward.
Such is the usual course of the plot. Satirical reflections on woman,
especially when made in poetry, must not be taken too seriously; and
where romantic love is also the theme for song, we may be sure that
woman, though much abused, is yet tenderly regarded and highly esteemed
among men.
A social movement for the emancipation of woman, which had occupied the
attention of thinking men and women of Athens in the latter half of the
fifth century before Christ, which had been started by Aspasia in her
salon, which had been discussed by Socrates and the Socratics,
especially AEschines, and which had brought about a battle royal between
the dramatists Euripides and Aristophanes, naturally called for
scientific treatment at the hands of the philosophers. The works of
Plato, Aristotle, and Xenophon accordingly devote much space to the
consideration of the Woman Question. The female sex, hitherto
"accustomed to live cowed and in obscurity,"--as Plato puts it,--justly
claimed more favorable conditions; and the philosophers who endeavored
to bring about a better social status asserted that woman deserved
proper recognition at the hands of men.
Plato had taken seriously to heart the lessons of the Peloponnesian War.
He was keenly sensitive to the evils of democracy as then existent, and
recognized the need of governmental and social reform. He felt that in
the disregard of women at least half the citizen population had been
neglected, and we have in his works the strongest assertion of the
equality of the sexes.
"And so," he says, in one of his dialogues, "in the administration of a
State, neither a woman as a woman nor a man as a man has any special
function, but the gifts of nature are equally diffused in both sexes;
all the pursuits of men are the pursuits of women also, and in all of
these woman is only a lesser man." "Very true." "Then are we to impose
all our enactments on men and none on women?" "That will never do." "One
woman has a gift of healing, another not; one is a musician, another is
not." "Very true." "And one woman has a turn for gymnastic and military
exercises, while another is unwarlike and hates gymnastics." "Beyond
question." "And one woman is a philosopher, and another is an enemy of
philosophy; one has spirit, and another is without spirit." "This is
also true."
From these premises, recognizing the diversity of gifts among women and
the correspondence of their talents with those of men, though less in
degree, Plato affirms that women should receive a training similar to
that accorded to men; to them should be given the same education and
assigned the same duties, though the lighter tasks should fall to them
as being less strong physically.
"There shall be compulsory education," says Plato, in his Laws, "for
females as well as males; they shall both go through the same exercises.
I assert, without fear of contradiction, that gymnastic exercises and
horsemanship are as suitable to women as to men. I further affirm that
nothing can be more absurd than the practice which prevails in our
country, of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their
strength and with one mind, for thus the State, instead of being a
whole, is reduced to a half."
The view of Plato, as stated in his _Republic_, which aroused the most
hostile criticism was his theory of the community of women as well as of
property. But this grew out of the fundamental thesis in his theory of
government: that the State must be developed into a perfect unity. The
family as a private possession disturbed this unity, and must therefore
be dispensed with.
This theory, however, proved too extreme, even for Plato himself, and in
his Laws he returns to the idea of marriage, but he follows the Spartan
system by putting marriage under the constant surveillance of
legislation. He wishes every man to contract that marriage which is most
beneficial to the State, not that which is most pleasing to himself. He
urges that people of opposing temperaments and of different conditions
in life should wed,--the stronger with the weaker, the richer with the
poorer,--"perceiving that the city ought to be well mingled, like a cup
in which the maddening wine is hot and fiery, but, when chastened by a
soberer god, receives a fair associate and becomes an excellent and
temperate drink." By such arguments he endeavors to beguile the spirits
of men into believing that the equability of their children's
disposition is of more importance than equality when they marry.
The philosopher does not seem to see the humor in his proposal to bring
together contrary natures, nor the pain he would inflict on the parties
most concerned. With him the interest of the State is supreme, and to
that everything must yield.
However, even amid such extreme doctrines we find wise counsel, inspired
by a more practical and humane spirit. Plato finds fault with the
prevailing custom of not giving young people an opportunity to become
acquainted with each other before marriage; and he recognizes, from the
excellent influence of the wife's activity in the home, how much she
might contribute to the well-being of the State if she were taken out of
seclusion and intimately associated with the life of her husband.
The woman's rights movement reached its high-water mark in the works of
Plato. Thenceforth there were a gradual decline in the conception of
woman's capacities and a lessening of the demands for her emancipation.
Aristotle is less generous than Plato in his concessions to woman. "The
male is by nature superior, and the female inferior; the one rules, the
other is ruled; this principle of necessity is extended to all mankind."
Thus he asserts woman's inferiority to man and he insists upon her
silent and passive obedience. The difference of functions and duties he
bases upon difference of nature. "The temperance and courage of a man
are other than those of a woman. For a man who is courageous only as a
woman is will seem timid, and a woman will seem impudent if she has
merely the reserve and modesty of an honest man. Thus, in a family, a
woman's duties differ from a man's--his it is to acquire, hers to
preserve." Each woman, however, has her part in the State, and should be
prepared for it. "In women the qualities of the body are beauty and
height; those of the soul are temperance and love of work, without
baseness. An individual and a State should desire each of these
qualities in both men and women." Yet, while asserting woman's
inferiority, Aristotle recognizes the sanctity of marriage and of the
family, and preaches to men faithfulness and regard and appreciation in
their attitude toward women. In his _Ethics_ he dwells with delicacy on
the affectionate regard husband and wife should each have for the other.
They should bear with and encourage each other in all the events of
life. And while he insists upon the limitations of woman's intelligence
and reasoning powers, he yet recognizes her superiority to man in
qualities of the heart; and when he wishes to give an example of
disinterested and ideal affection, it is woman who serves as his model.
On the whole, Aristotle draws a more pleasing picture of woman's
character and position than Plato, in spite of the greater equality
granted by the latter. Plato's philosophy was primarily the product of
imagination, Aristotle's of experience; Plato was essentially
theoretical, Aristotle practical. Hence the teachings of the Stagirite
were doubtless based on examples of conjugal unity and felicity which he
saw about him, and he extended to the Athenian people in general the
views of marital relations that prevailed in his own circle.
Xenophon's treatise on _Domestic Economy_ was probably intended to be a
contribution to the current discussion of the Woman Question; in it he
sought to prove the falsity of the views of Plato and Aristotle, who
advocated greater freedom for woman, and at the same time endeavored to
reform existing conditions without materially changing them. In his
_Recollections of Socrates_, he expresses, as the views of that
philosopher, opinions of the high value of the sex, but only in purely
domestic relations. Socrates insists upon reverence for and obedience to
the mother, who watches over her children with tender affection and
unwearied solicitude; who, when they are capable of receiving
instruction, endeavors to instil into their minds the knowledge which
will best conduce to their future welfare. "For the man who is wanting
in respect to parents," he adds, "public punishments are appointed; the
laws yield him no longer their protection, neither is he permitted any
share in the administration; since they think no sacrifice offered by a
hand so impious can be acceptable to the gods or beneficial to man."
These and other passages show that the Socrates of Xenophon entertained
very delicate sentiments regarding the domestic life. He saw in woman
the diligent mother and industrious housekeeper, watchful of her house
and its management. He leaves her in her seclusion, occupied with her
quiet domestic duties, but at the same time he recognizes the charm as
well as the usefulness of her presence in the home. Her economy,
vigilance, and care are of inestimable value to her husband. He regards
marriage as a union in which husband and wife have each his or her own
duties as well as authority. His views are a contrast to those of his
time, when the rights were all on one side, while on the other were only
duty and submission.
The _Domestic Economy_ of Xenophon is but an exposition and illustration
of the views which the author here attributes to Socrates. The most
remarkable feature in Xenophon's system of woman training is the utter
absence of any intellectual discipline. Manifestly, he did not believe
in the mental equality of the sexes. His was a purely industrial system
of education, one merely designed to fit woman for the duties of the
home.
It is not improbable that in this work is embodied the view which
pleased the majority of the Athenian public regarding the aspirations of
women. Thus, after more than half a century of discussion, the agitation
for the emancipation of woman seems not to have accomplished any
demonstrable change in her social life, but to have resolved itself
merely into a plea for better equipment for her domestic duties. Yet
even this was something gained; and if all the husbands of Athens were
as conscientious as Ischomachus in training their wives for the duties
of home, and gave them the companionship which such an education
involved, there must have been marked improvement in the social status
of woman.
Perhaps it was impossible for women to be accorded greater liberty of
action while the ancient conception of the city-state obtained. Woman's
harmonious development regularly keeps pace with her freedom, and the
intellectual possibilities of the sex are only limited by the
opportunities afforded. The men who were responsible for the system
could hurl their shafts of satire at the uncultivated women confined to
their apartments and their domestic cares; but whenever the least
liberty of action was granted those women, they proved themselves fully
equal to the men in intellectual capacity, and the Greek woman always
exceeded her brothers in moral sublimity and unselfishness. The root of
the evil was the system of government. Soon Philip and Alexander were to
put an end with their legions to the exclusiveness of the city-state,
and the Greek woman of the Hellenistic period was destined to enjoy
greater freedom and greater influence.
XII
GREEK WOMAN IN RELIGION
More spiritual by nature, more inclined to mysticism, with keener
intuitions, woman has ever taken a more prominent part in religious
matters than man. Hence, even in such a country as Hellas, where woman
was excluded from so many lines of human activity, we find that in
religious observance she had equal freedom with man, and far exceeded
him in devoutness and religious fervor. The Greeks, though they had only
the light of nature to guide them, were essentially a spiritual people.
They saw the hand of the Unseen everywhere manifesting itself in natural
phenomena: they recognized divinities in the fertility of the soil, in
the stars of the heavens, in the crystal waters of the spring, in the
rain and in the storm cloud, in the winds of the forest. They even
personified abstractions, and deified emotions and virtues. Nor were
they merely content with inward piety, but endeavored in every way by
outward observance to worship the deities which were the creations of
their own myth-making faculties; and in all the religious ceremonials of
the Greeks woman played a prominent role.
All the Greek peoples gloried in being of the same blood and language
and religion. Though widely separated politically and engaged in endless
wars among themselves, the chief bond of union known to them was the
common cult of some divinity and participation in the same religious
festivals. The oracles, the temples, the games, the processions in honor
of their gods, tended to maintain the unity of Greece and were the
promoters of national sentiment. Woman's part in these bonds of union
made her influential in the welfare of the common country, and religious
ceremonies were to her occasions in which she could feel herself an
essential factor in Greek life.
In the childhood of the world, man, who reached conclusions by a long
process of reasoning, stood in awe of the intuitive faculty in woman
that enabled her to arrive at a truth without apparent effort. Hence the
spirit of divination was thought to be inherent in the sex, and women
were prophetesses from remote ages. Among pagan peoples, the earliest
manifestations of the prophetic instinct in woman were recognized in the
persons of certain seers to whom was given the name of Sibyls. The word
in its etymology signifies the "will of God," and was applied to the
inspired prophetesses of some deity, chiefly of Apollo. The Sibyls were
generally represented as maidens, dwelling in lonely caverns or by
sacred springs, who were possessed of the spirit of divination and gave
forth prophetic utterances while under the influence of enthusiastic
frenzy. Their number, their names, their countries, their times, are
matters about which we have no certain knowledge; but twelve are
mentioned by ancient writers, of whom three were certainly Greek--the
Delphian, the Erythrean, and the Samian. Herophila, the Erythrean Sibyl,
was the most celebrated of them all, and she is represented as wandering
from her Ionian home, by manifold journeyings, to Cumae, in Magna Graecia,
whence she became known as the Cumaean Sibyl. She it was whom AEneas
consulted before his descent into Hades, and who later sold to the last
Tarquin the prophetic books. It was believed that her age reached a
thousand years.
Women also were priestesses at the oracles of Hellas, which were seats
of the worship of certain divinities, where prophecies were imparted to
inquiring souls through the instrumentality of the attendants of the
deity. The oldest and most venerated of the oracles was that of Zeus at
Dodona, mentioned by Homer. Here, among the prophetic oaks, priestesses
read the future in the rustling of the leaves and in the creaking of the
branches, in the bubbling of a spring and in the sounds made by brazen
cymbals hung near the sacred shrine. Herodotus visited this oracle, and
gives the names of the three priestesses who officiated in his time.
These priestesses--Promenia, Timarete, Nicandra--related to him a very
interesting story concerning the origin of the oracle. They traced its
sacred legends back to the worship in the famous temple of Thebes in
Egypt. Two doves, they said, flew away one day from the city of Thebes
and took their flight into distant lands. One alighted in Libya, on the
spot where the oracle of Jupiter Ammon was later established; while the
other, crossing the sea, flew as far as Dodona, where, perching on an
oak, in human voice she commanded those that heard her to establish
there an oracle of Zeus. For this reason the priestesses were known as
Peliades, or doves. When, however, Herodotus inquired of the priests in
Thebes about the tradition, they told a different story: that two
priestesses of their temple had once been carried off from Egypt by the
Phoenicians and sold into slavery, and that one of these priestesses
finally established herself at Dodona. So, whether dove or priestess,
the tradition of the Egyptian origin of the oracle seemed confirmed.
Apollo, however, rather than Zeus, was the god of prophecy, and it was
generally in connection with his shrines that oracles were spoken.
Usually, fountains whose water was supposed to influence the workings of
the mind, or caverns whence escaped a gas producing delirium or
hallucination, were regarded as places where the divinity was present.
Hence there existed numerous oracles of Apollo in Greece proper and in
Asia Minor. The most celebrated of the latter was the oracle of the
Didymaean Apollo at Branchidae, near Miletus, where a priestess uttered
prophecies, seated on a wheel-shaped disk, after she had bathed the hem
of her robe and her feet in the sacred spring and had breathed the
vapors arising from it.
The most illustrious of all the oracles of ancient Hellas was at Delphi,
which is situated, like a vast amphitheatre, above the beautiful plain
of Cirrha in Phocis, with the double summits of Parnassus forming the
background. Delphi became the centre of the Hellenic religion, and the
fame of its oracle extended as far as to Lydia in the east, and to Rome
and the Etruscans in the west. At first, a young maiden took the part of
the priestess of Apollo who gave the responses; but the authorities
realizing the dangers to which the beauty of the priestess might lead, a
woman of at least fifty years of age was later selected for the honor,
and finally, as one prophetess was not sufficient to answer the
questions of the vast crowd of pilgrims that assembled to consult the
oracle, three were chosen. The name given to the inspired priestess was
always the same, that of Pythia.
To prepare the priestess for the ordeal which was to make known the will
of the god, she was kept fasting for a number of days--a condition
favorable to hallucinations, and then was given laurel leaves to chew
because of their narcotic virtue. Then the Pythia was seated on a
tripod, placed in the middle of the sanctuary, over an opening in the
ground whence mephitic vapors were escaping. Her head was crowned with
a garland made from the tree of Apollo, and about the tripod coiled a
snake, the emblem of the art of divination. The exhalations from the
abyss were deemed to be the very breath of the god, with which he
inspired his priestess. Soon she grew pale and trembled with convulsive
movements; her only utterances at first were groans and sighs; and now,
with eyes aflame, with hair dishevelled, and with foam on her lips, amid
shrieks of anguish she gave forth a few incoherent, disconnected words.
The god had at last spoken through his priestess. The words were
carefully written down by the attendant priest, who gave a rhythmic form
to the response, and thus a revelation of the future was made known to
the anxious inquirer.
The Pythia was consulted by all the peoples of Greece, as well as by
kings and strangers from foreign lands. Colonies to Italy, to Africa, to
the regions about the Black Sea, were sent at her command; she
sanctioned laws; she taught Lycurgus that the best laws were those which
obliged rulers to rule well and subjects to obey well. To the conquered,
she counselled resignation and hope. Peoples lusting for conquest, she
bade revive their piety toward the gods and seek the mercy of heaven by
showing themselves merciful. She was also the guardian of individual
morality. To a king desiring peace of mind, she declared that his
unhappiness was due to his and his predecessors' wrong-doings, and
recommended the exercise of clemency when he returned home. Being asked:
"Who is the happiest of men?" she replied: "Phaedrus, who has died for
his country," A man named Glaucus wished to withhold a treasure which
had been confided to him, but decided first to get the sanction of the
oracle; the Pythia revealed to him the woes reserved for the perjured.
To the lot of Gyges, the wealthy and powerful king, she preferred that
of a poor Arcadian farmer who cultivated his plot of ground in peace of
mind. By pure and elevated moral teachings, the Pythia instructed the
bands of pilgrims who assembled at Delphi. Such was the power in the
hands of a woman. Frail and nervous, she yet represented a religious
institution the most influential in the pagan world; she largely
determined the destiny of Greeks and barbarians alike. The wisdom of
this oracular centre is generally ascribed in modern times to the
college of priests assembled at Delphi, who interpreted the responses of
the Pythia; but, whatever the nature of the mechanism by which this
oracle retained its influence for centuries, the people in general had,
for ages, perfect faith that the responses came directly from the god of
prophecy through his inspired priestess. It is undoubtedly true that the
Greeks, as well as the Hindoos, Gauls, and Germans, attributed to woman
the gift of second-sight; and the immaculate life which the Pythia was
required to lead attests the fact that to receive the inspiration of the
god of light there were needed a purity of heart and a devoutness of
spirit which could only be found in a woman. Strange to say, it was the
law that no woman could consult this oracle of Apollo, whose divine will
was revealed through a woman; women could, however, indirectly receive a
response through the mediation of a man.