18 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



mothers of Athens who, notwithstanding all their grievous 

 disabilities, gave to the world all the greatest masters in 

 art, literature, and philosophy the men who through the 

 ages have been the leaders and the teachers of humanity, 

 and who seem destined to hold their exalted position until 

 the end of time. 



The failure of the men of Greece to avail themselves of 

 the immense potential power, which they always kept latent 

 in their women, was the occasion of a terrible nemesis in 

 the end. For this failure, coupled with the frightful 

 license introduced by a class of educated women, like the 

 hetaerae, without legal status or domestic ties, and the wave 

 of corruption that subsequently followed the advent of the 

 countless dissolute women who flocked to the Hellenic cities 

 from every part of the East, paved the way for the na- 

 tion's downfall and for its ultimate conquest by the resist- 

 less Roman legions that swept the once glorious but ill- 

 fated country of Pericles and Aspasia. 



WOMAN AND EDUCATION IN ANCIENT ROME 



The condition of women in Rome, especially from 150 

 B.C. to 150 A.D., was quite different from what it was in 

 Athens, even during her palmiest days. Owing to the lack 

 of authentic documents we know but little of the history 

 of the Roman people during the first five hundred years 

 of their existence, but we do know that during this period 

 many and important changes were effected regarding the 

 social and civil status of women. 



In the first place the Roman matron had much more 

 freedom than was accorded the Greek wife during the age 

 of Pericles. Far from 'being kept in oriental seclusion, 

 like her Athenian sister, she was at liberty to receive and 

 dine with the friends of her husband, and to appear in 

 public whenever she desired. She went to the theater and 

 the Forum; she took part in all reputable entertainment, 

 whether public or private. Besides this, she had more 



