198 "WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



claims to distinction she is said to have publicly taught 

 natural and moral philosophy in the schools and academies 

 of Attica for thirty-five years, to have written forty books, 

 and to have counted among her pupils one hundred and 

 ten philosophers. She was so highly esteemed by her 

 countrymen that they inscribed on her tomb an epitaph 

 which declared that she was the splendor of Greece and 

 possessed the beauty of Helen, the virtue of Thirma, the 

 pen of Aristippus, the soul of Socrates, and the tongue of 

 Homer. 1 



This is high praise, indeed, but, when we recollect that 

 Arete lived during the golden age of Greek learning and 

 culture, that she had exceptional opportunities of acquiring 

 knowledge in every department of intellectual effort ; when 

 we recall the large number of women who, in their time, 

 distinguished themselves by their learning and accomplish- 

 ment, and reflect on the advantages they enjoyed as pupils 

 of the ablest teachers of the Lyceum, the Portico, and the 

 Academy; when we remember further that they lived in 

 an atmosphere of intelligence such as has since been un- 

 known; when we call to mind the signal success that re- 

 warded the pursuit of knowledge by the scores of women 

 mentioned by Athenaeus and other Greek writers; when 

 we peruse the fragmentary notices of their achievements 

 as recorded in the pages of more recent investigators re- 

 garding the educational facilities of a certain class of 



i" Publics philosophiam naturalera et moralem in seholis Aca- 

 demiisque Atticis docuit haec foemina annis XXXV, libros com- 

 posuit XL, discipulos habuit philosophos CX, obiit anno aetatis 

 LXXVII, cui tale Athenienses statuere epitaphium: 

 Nobilis hie Arete dormit, lux Helladis, ore 



Tyndaris at tibi par, Icarioti, fide. 

 Patris Aristippi calamumque animamque dederunt, 

 Socratis huic linguam Maeonidaeque Dii. " 



Boccaccio, De Laudibus Mulierum, Lib. II. 



Cf. Wolf's Mulierum Grcecarum qucB Oratione Prosa Usce Sunt 

 Fragmenta et Elogia, pp. 283 et seq., London, 1739. 



