Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1871-12-02
a Word for Xanthippe.

My first impression Of Xanthippe was form
ed from the primer in which l learned ny
letters, where it said that TX. stood for Nan
;hippe wise Socrates wife, who tormented
him so he'd no pleasure in life" This verse
was accompanied by a picture which l still
remember OF toothless, sharp-nosed, sour
yisaged woman who stood with her fist raised
mcnacingly above very meek looking man
sitting with a book before him. Xanthippe
lives in our minds as no other Greean woman
ever can live. She was photographed long
ages before man had learned TO make the sun
light one Of the slaves to his vanity. Ii is mot
very pleasing reflection that what is evil
sh luld take so firm a hold of the mind, while
the good perishes so soon; for whether Kan
hippe's portrait be correct or not, il is certain
that she is SO we'll remembered, only because
of her real or reputed bad qualities For
something like twenty-three centuries she
has been the type Of all that is repulsive in her
sex. She vet walks" and is reproduced in
thousands of families every day of our mortal
lives and many a man thinks himself So
crates because he has a scoldng, quarrelsome
wife with thousand tongued power OF an
noyanee They reason thus: Socrates had a
scolding vile, my wife scolds, hence am like
Socrates. Yet there is evidence that would
seem to show that Xanthippe was not the vi
cious creature she is SO commonly painted
Socrates is once spoken of as administering a
severe reproof 10 his eldest son because he
was enraged with his mother. He calls him a
"wrctch" when he admits that he seeks to
| gain the good will of others, aud yet supposes
! be is to do nothing fer n mother whose love
| for him so far surpasses that of any other.
| The picture which he draws of the maternal
relation Is said to be one of the finest things
| in classic j literature. Now it is not probable
that Socrates would have been under so grave
concern on this point, had his wife been dssii-
tute of good qualities, nor would he have
omitted all mention of her scolding propensi-
ties had they been so prominent as we are re-
quired TO believe. But suppose we assume
that the popular idea of Xanthippes character
be correct one, it does not follow that moth
ing can be said IN pallation of her doings.-
| Take her Mt her w0rst-as women mostly ar(
ken when men paint them-there is some
thing TO be said in her behalf The charitable
| ana lDlDk LnC IedbOuuDle NlcW Vi ncI illc
this: that she was driven half wild by the too.
ish actions of her wise husband. When they
were married ii is supposed she had no wors'
temper than common folks She came from
an aristocratic family, she was handsome
the belle Of Athens she must have married
against the wishes of her parents, for Socrate
was considered "no great catch" being any
thing but rich, and his social position thougl
respectable was not high. He is spoken O
as
THAT low, .wsrthy, shortnosed, round-eyed satyr,
With the wide nostrils, and Silenus aspect
The splay feet and low stature"
She entered on "union Of hearts ant
housekeeping" with the usual high hopes AM
expectations, for Socrates was askillful maste
of his fathers calling, which was that OF
sculptor, and as he was clever at his art h
might-by following thia oeeupation-hav
maintained his family in afiiuence, and kept
in the best eircles-a star of the upper ten
.. of Athens. But he did not choose to deyot
himself to productive pursuits he chos
, rather to impose upon himself the task o
reading and conversing had he taken pay 70
this, it might have been even more profitable