4 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



available for her brothers, were closed to her. Her duty 

 was to become proficient in the use of the needle and the 

 distaff, and, later on, to learn how to embroider, to ply 

 the loom and make garments for herself and for the other 

 members of her family. 



Until she was seven years old, she was brought up with 

 her brothers under the eye of her mother. During this 

 period of childhood she had a certain amount of freedom, 

 but, after her seventh year, she was kept in the gyneconitis 

 women's quarters " under the strictest restraint, in or- 

 der, " as Xenophon informs us in his (Economicus, "that 

 she might see as little, hear as little and ask as few ques- 

 tions as possible. " On rare occasions she was permitted 

 to be a spectator at a religious procession, or to take part 

 in certain of the choral dances that constituted so impor- 

 tant a part in the religious ceremonies of ancient Greece. 

 Whether in public or in private, silence was always con- 

 sidered an imperative duty for a woman. 



But more than this. Not only was she expected to ob- 

 serve silence herself, but she was also expected so to con- 

 duct herself that no one would have occasion to speak 

 about her. Pericles, in a celebrated discourse, gave ex- 

 pression to the prevailing opinion regarding this phase of 

 female excellence when, on a notable occasion, he addressed 

 to a certain number of women the following words : ' ' Great 

 will be your glory in not falling short of your natural char- 

 acter ; and greatest will be hers who is least talked of among 

 men whether for good or for evil. ' ?1 



From the foregoing observations it will be seen that the 



1 Ti)t re 7&/>, {nrapxofovi* tyffetat fi^j x^P ^ 1 ytveffdai v^lv /j,eyd\rj rj 861-0.' 

 /ecu ^s Av eir' f\dx iffrov &pTT)s irtpi ij \^byov 4v <lp<re<n K\tos 1j. gThucidides, 

 History of the Peloponnesian War, II, 45. 



"Phidias," Plutarch tells us in his Conjugal Precepts, "made 

 the statue of Venus at Elis with one foot on the shell of a tortoise, 

 to signify two great duties of a virtuous woman, which are to keep 

 at home and be silent. For she is only to speak to her husband or by 

 her husband. " 



