to have been the custom for husbands to bring their wives to her house, to be instructed by her discourses; although they were perfectly aware, it was not less a seminary for prostitution than for oratory*. They, therefore, who could treat their wives with such unprecedented indelicacy and disrespect, must surely be considered, by all impartial judges, to complain with a very ill grace of the dissoluteness of Aspasia and her companions. These reasons will serve to account for the homage which courtezans so often received in Greece. Without them, we should indeed but darkly comprehend why they became the objects of such excessive admiration to orators, philosophers, poets, painters, and statuaries; why Phryné had a statue of gold at Delphi, placed between the statues of two kings; and why some of them, after their death, should be honoured with splendid monuments. The traveller, in his ap Upon this circumstance, which is so singular, that we safely pronounce it to be without a parallel in the history of any other people of antiquity, Plutarch expresses himself in the clearest terms:-" Tag. γυναίκας ἀκροασομενας δι συνήθεις ήγον εις αυτην, και περ ἐ κοσμια προεξωαν * ἐργασίας, έδε σεμνης άλλα παιδίσκας εταίρασας τρέφεσαν.”—See Vita Periclis. The latter part of this assertion is confirmed by Athenæus:-Ka Ασπασια δε ἡ Σωκρατικη ἐνεπορευεῖο πλήθη καλών γυναικών και ἔπληθυνεν ἀπο των ταυτης εταιριδων ἡ Ἑλλας.”—Lib. xiii. p. 570. proach to Athens, says an eminent Greek writer, Dicæarchus*, beholds afar off, a musoleum on the side of the road, which attracts his attention: he conceives it to be the tomb of Miltiades, or of Pericles, or of some other illustrious character who has served his country: he at length draws near to it, and finds it to be, a courtezan of Athens, who is interred with such pomp; and, in a letter to Alexander, Theopompus, speaking of this same mausoleum, emphatically observes, "This distinguished mark of public respect, a courtezan has received; while of all those who perished in Asia, fighting for the general safety of Greece, there is not one whose ashes have received, or even been thought worthy to receive, a similar honour.+" Such was the senseless extravagance, inconsistency, degeneracy, and ingratitude of the Athenians. But these traits were perfectly accordant with the character of a people who could banish Themistocles, starve Aristides, poison Socrates, prefer * This enlightened and impartial Greek was the disciple of Aristotle, and wrote some years after the death of Alexander. + Apud Athenæum. Well might Valerius Maximus exclaim on contemplating the monstrous injustice of this state to its benefactors,-Felices Athanas, quæ post the licentious buffoonery of Aristophanes, to the sublime and pathetic compositions of Sophocles, and Euripides*; reverence the sanctity of marriage, and yet suffer themselves to be governed by Aspasia, and her school of harlots+. illorum exilium invenire aliquem aut virum bonum aut amantem sui civem potuerunt.-Lib. v. cap. 3. * It is a matter of just surprise, that the Athenians had not possessed a more correct taste, when we consider that they were so exceedingly fond of dramatic entertainments, as to have several trajedies performed at one sitting: although Aristotle's supposition (in his Poetics) of a hundred trajedies being performed in concurrence, must pass for an exuberantia orationis, to use the expression of a learned critic. + From Miss Lucy Aikin's Epistles on the character and condition of Women in various ages and countries, which we think no one can peruse without receiving a strong impression of the lofty genius and delicate taste of the writer, the following beautiful passage in her rapid view of the state of Athens, may here be quoted with the utmost propriety: Graced by the sword, the chisel, and the pen, To Beauty's queen the graceful dance they twine, And fires and shares the worship that she pays. Haste, sculptor, haste! that form, that heavenly face, And Pallas' virgin image frown in vain. Rise, bright Aspasia too! thy tainted name F Statesmen The condition of the Roman was unquestionably not so grievous as that of the Grecian women: the former were not excluded, like the latter, from all social intercourse; nor could they complain of their behaviour being so attentively watched, or so severely scrutinized. Yet among the primitive Romans, the matrimonial contract was most unequal on the side of the woman, and can only be regarded in the degrading light of the conjunction of a master with a slave*. For the stern spirt of the laws, gave them the right of life and death over their helpless partners; and in the cases of adultery or intoxicationt, the husband, on Statesmen and bards and heroes bend the knee, Nor blushes Socrates to learn of thee. Thy wives, proud Athens! fetter'd and debas'd, O vapid summary of a slavish lot! They sew, and spin, they die, and are forgot. Cease, headlong muse! resign the dang'rous theme, Inspire thy trump at Virtue's call alone, And blush to blazon whom she scorns to own. See Epistle iii. v. 82—105. * See Aulus Gellius, Lib. x. Cap. xxiii. The same fatal penalty might be inflicted if she even tasted wine without his knowledge. Non licebat vinum foeminis Romanis bibere : invenimus inter exempla Egnatii Mezennii uxorem quod vinum bibisset a dolio interfectam furte enim cædis a Romulo absolutum.-See Pliny, Lib. xiv. Cap. xiv. Their notion was, that the use of wine provoked amorous passions. consulting with his friends, might, if he pleased, carry the sentence into execution. Of the coldness and insensibility of the Romans towards their wives, or at least the grossness of their love, a remarkable proof may be cited in the following declaration, which Metellus Numidius made to the Roman people, that, if kind nature had enabled us to do without a wife, we should be delivered from a very troublesome companion: but, since she had so ordered it, that we could neither live with our wives happily enough, nor without them by any means, we must look to matrimony rather for our lasting security, than for a transient gratification*. Yet still, however, instances can be adduced to shew, that the Romans, in the period under review, treated their wives with some degree of esteem and confidence. Ignorant of arts and pleasures, war and labour were then the chief amusements of a Roman; but after his dangers and toils, he disdained not to partake with his wife in all the cares of domestic life+; * See Aulus Gellius, Lib. i. сар. vi. + See the Fourteenth Satire of Juvenal, v. 166—171, for a short, but lively picture, of the simplicity and domestic happiness of the ancient Romans. |