WOMAN'S LONG STRUGGLE 13 



arisen the tradition that she was the teacher of Socrates 

 in philosophy and politics, and Pericles in rhetoric. Her 

 influence was such as to stimulate men to their best, and 

 they attributed to her all that was best in themselves. 

 Aspasia seems especially to have thought earnestly on the 

 duties and destiny of women. The cultivated men who 

 thronged her assemblies had no hesitation in breaking 

 through the conventionalities of Athenian society, and 

 brought their wives to the parties of Aspasia ; and she dis- 

 cussed with them the duties of wives. She thought they 

 should be something more than mere mothers and house- 

 wives. She urged them to cultivate their minds, and be in 

 all respects fit companions for their husbands/' 1 



She is said to have written some of the best speeches of 

 Pericles among them his noted funeral oration over those 

 who had died in battle before the walls of Potidaea. As to 

 Socrates, he himself explicitly refers to her, in the Memo- 

 rabilia, as his teacher. She is a notable character in the 

 Socratic dialogues and appears several times in those of 

 JEschines, while there is every reason to believe that she 

 strongly influenced the views of Plato, as expressed by him 

 in the Republic respecting the equality of woman with man. 

 She was continually consulted regarding affairs of state, 

 i Donaldson, op. cit., pp. 61 and 62. 



Adolph Schmidt, one of the late biographers of Aspasia, accepts 

 these statements as true and credits to Aspasia the making of both 

 Pericles and Socrates. His views are also shared by other modern 

 writers who have made a special study of the subject. 



According to some writers an indirect allusion to Aspasia 's in- 

 tellectual superiority is found in the Medea of Euripedes in the fol- 

 lowing verses of the women's chorus: 



"In subtle questions I full many a time 

 Have heretofore engaged, and this great point 

 Debated, whether woman should extend 

 Her search into abstruse and hidden truths. 

 But we too have a Muse, who with our sex 

 Associates to expound the mystic lore 

 Of wisdom, though she dwell not with us all." 



