Evening star., 1912-11-23

wife. But wholly insurmountable was the
law which prohibited the marriage Of a
noble Athenian to a foreigner. Thus
baked IN their desire to marry, Pericles
and Aspasia formed union which
proved as enduring as life, and which
was truly a wedding OF minds. Walter
Savage Landor well ascribes their fault.
If fault it were, to the narrowness OF
their time.
There throned: immortal by his side,
A woman sits with eye sublime,
Aspasia-all his spirits bride;
But II their solemn love We're crime
Pity the beauty and the sage,
Their crime was In that darkened age.
The ascendency of Aspasia over the
mind of Pericles was destined to prove
dangerous, almost fatal. to them both The
people Of Athens disliked the spectacle
Of their ruler parted from his lawful wife
foreign-born woman. Probably the law
full wives Of Athens helped to stimulate
this discomfort, for the prosperity of AS
pasta and her class could hardly fail to
awaken the jealousy of these seduestered
ladies. Moreover, the frequenters of
Aspasla's home were looked upon with
distrust by the Athenians. Socrates. De-
mocrtus and Anaxagoras were philoso-
piers not In touch with the spirit of their
day. They examined the system Of rov-
ernment and criticised its faults. They
expressed doubts as to the existence Of
the whole army of gods recognized in
pagan theology, and questioned the exist
ence Of Jupiter. Minerva and Venus Phid-
cas- though a sculptor skilled in carving
statues of the gods. confessed to skepti-
cism concerning them. In short. the salon
of Aspasia was nest OF what we now
call anarchists, and the people Of Athens
set about destroying them all.
Against Aspasia they charged that she
influenced Pericles for the injury of the
state and that she instructed him in un-
capable of proof, these charges were al
most equally impossible to disprove. BY
constant reiteration in public places they
came to be accepted as facts. When the
matter came to a serious hearing 1t re-
quired all the oratOrical genius of Peri
cles. all the influence he possessed and
all the fierce determination inspired by
the love he felt for the woman who was
in all truth his wife. to si-ve her from
Athenian jealousy. His tears, more than
con temporary writer.
But. though able to save Aspasia by
herculean efforts. Pericles was unable to
protect his friends. The brilliant circle
was broken up in dread Of Athenian
wrath. Phidias and Anaxagoras were
swept away before the storm-one to life
long exile. the other to prison and un-
timely death. Not long after Socrates
drank the deadly hemlock. The mort bril-
liant circle of classic days was demol-
shed by an unreasoning populace.
The name Of almost every man who
joined in the discussions at Aspasia's
house is writ large in history; the name
Of none Of their enemies Is remembered.
After this disaster Aspasia swiftly pass
ed into obscurity. The plague fell upon
Athens and carried away Pericles and his
two children by his first wife. Some time
thereafter Aspasia married once more.
and gradually faded from the worlds
stage. The time and place Of her death.
as Of her birth, are lost In history, but
after nearly $500 years her name shines
brightly upon its pages, and though no
writing, however fragmentary, bearing
her name exists, her fame is secure