Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-12-27
WAS A GENIUS.
How Aspasia RELOCATED to the Attic
Won Over the Athenian Women.


Won Over the Athenian Women.
Aspasia was, indeed, genius. SIZE
was forbidden by the unique Athenian
law to contract marriage with a citi-
zen. but it would be a grave mistake to
assume that she was thereby deprived
OF opportunities TO achieve greatness.
TN the contrary, strange to say, her app
parent disqualification was her real OPP
portunity; for the high-born Athenian
girl, seemingly more fortunate, when at
length she was welded to a husband
who had been chosen for her by old
women IN her early years, was by Gus
tom relegated to the attic and forbidden
that association with others which is
essential to the development of mind
and manners. But possessing neither
beauty nor certain other attributes now
adays considered essential to the main
tenance of a secure position in polite
society, Aspasia's wit, wisdom, tact and
charm Suftced TO win for her q person
al influence over learned men not WELD
ed before or since by any woman. In
common with all of the stranger-women,
she was free to practice arts of pleasing,
and was encouraged by custom to invent
new methods of feeding the yanities of
men, Undoubtedly, tee, in studying
how best to first ensnare and then en-
slave. she profited from the advice of
the experienced philosophers, just as
the gentle Theodota was guided by Soc
rates himself. That her ultimate sue
cess was purely intellectual is clearly
evidenced by the fact that the most
scrupulous citizens brought their own
wives to her for instruction; but it is
unlikely that the powerful Pericles
would have been driven to the extrem-
lty of tears to win her acquittal from
a sympathetic tribunal if, at the begin
ing, at least, her life had not been as
| sensual 0e hut IF no Nv IF bnr
class.
But does not the real question relate
less to the extent of Aspasa's influence
than to the good or i'll wrought by its
eXerciseI 1t is true that she urged the
unfortunate citizen women to strive to
attain higher level by cultivating at
| Effectiveness of mind and person; but she
must have realized, possibly not without
qualification, that advice so sardonic
necessarily, however earnest, could avail
little In point of fact, indeed, the eff
feet produced was quite the reverse of
that apparently hoped for. The citizen
women were depressed and the stranger
women We're exhiarated by Aspasias
success; and from the day of her as
cendancy the former lost ground stead
ily and the latter became more and more
prominent and influential, until finally
the wives were lost sight of al
together. Not one of their names
appears on the pages of history
from Athens golden age to its fall,
while simultaneously the records abound
increasingly in mention of the com
panicns," Nobody ever heard of Mrs.
Plato, or Mrs Aristotle, or Mrs. Epi-
Gurus. or Mrs. Isocrates; but Archeanas
sa, Herpyllis, Leontium and Metaneira
were names familiar to every resident of
Athens. SO We're scores of others. One
writer painted fascinating pictures of
l33, the comic poets chronieled' their
witty sayings and turned them into
verse; sculptorS, inspired by the dazzling
| appearance of the most beautiful women
the world has ever seen. preserved to
posterity their fine features; artists,
statesmen ,teachers-all were at their
feet.
Meanwhile. the wives remained at
home caring for unloyed children, and so
lost to the refinements of their ancestors
that before the end of the dismal story
we are told that they ate like dogs, tear
ing away meat with their teeth and
examining it INTO their mouths. And yet,
in theory and before the law, these
neglected and degraded women continued
to be responsible for the propaganda of
race, while no burden rested upon the
shoulders of those better equipped, but
unrecognized by the state. From the
downfall of the nation which inevitably
ensued, are we not forced not only to
conclude that the decay of Athens be-
gan with the ascendency of Aspasia, but
also to infer that no state can long sur
yive the humiliation of one sex by the
other, or even withstand the unavoidable
effect of open disregard of what might
be termed instructive convention?
If so, the lesson is one wen learned in
these days of loosening marital ties,
since it supplements that which has
come to be regarded as only moral re-
quirement with a vitality practical rea-
son for sturdy resistance to further en-
croachments upon the wholesome condi-
ton additionally attained through matri-
mony.-George Harvey in The North
American Review