DARWINISM AND POLITICS. 67 



yet had a fair chance of showing their capaci- 

 ties on a sufficiently large scale), Plato's argu- 

 ment would still hold that, though there may 

 be a general superiority of men, yet there are 

 many women superior to many men, and it is a 

 pity that the State should lose the advantage of 

 their services. 1 



With regard to the argument from nature 

 generally, even if we agree to the generalisation 

 that advance implies increasing differentiation 

 of sex and not the very reverse, it must be 

 insisted that difference is not the same thing 

 as inequality (though the two are very apt to 

 be confounded), and that the very difference 

 between the sexes is a reason why the State 

 should not disregard the opinions and the feel- 

 ings of half, or in old countries more than half, 

 the population. 



But the main point is really this : that society 

 has enabled man to rise above the mere animal 

 and, as has been pointed out, to be influenced 

 not merely by natural pressure but by ideas. 

 The idea of equality has grown up I shall not 

 at present inquire how far it is due to the uni- 

 versal citizenship of the Roman Empire and to 

 1 Republic, v. 455. 



