Similarly, she views as her primary task to assert the lineage to which contemporary women can call upon to justify their intellectual capacities. She therefore brings forth a number of examples ranging from prophetesses to Nicostrata, the mother of Evander, to Zenobia and Sappho. Her exemplars are numerous and serve her argument well. After she has gone through her intellectual foremothers, Cereta shifts the ground of the argument back to the present. Her first point is that all women are endowed with the same ability to learn as men.
Women have just as much a likelihood of being exceptional thinkers as men.
Many are frivolous and vain, paying more attention to their appearance than to the development of their mind. Her audience is rather the sober-minded woman dedicated to imroving her mind and her soul. Women have cunning where men have strength. Ultimately, however, women are in a no-win situation and are wise enough to recognize this and be happy with their lot. And, in fact, the ability to achieve some form of contentment in adverse circumstances is another mark of their superiority.