they had glimpses of divine beauty,
and "the fleshly vehicle was but the means to lead on the soul to what
is eternally and imperishably beautiful." Thus the lesson of the
_Phжdrus_ and _Symposium_ of Plato is that "the passion which grovels in
the filth of sensual grossness may be transformed into a glorious
enthusiasm, a winged splendor, capable of rising to the contemplation of
eternal verities and reuniting the soul of man to God."

This last reflection leads us to the most important difference between
ancient and modern conceptions, that in regard to the relations between
the sexes. We of the Christian era have a clear doctrine of right and
wrong to guide us, a law given from without ourselves, the result of
revelation. The Greeks, on the other hand, "had to interrogate nature
and their own hearts for the mode of action to be pursued. They did not
feel or think that one definite course of action was right and the
others wrong; but they had to judge in each case whether the action was
becoming, whether it was in harmony with the nobler side of human
nature, whether it was beautiful or useful. Utility, appropriateness,
and the sense of the beautiful were the only guides which the Greeks
could find to direct them in the relations of the sexes to each other."
Hence we find that the Greeks deemed permissible much which offends the
modern sense of propriety; for example, when maidens captured in war
became for a time the concubines of the victors, as Chryseis in the
Iliad, and were afterward restored to their homes, they were not thought
in the least disgraced by their misfortune; "for if such a stain happen
to a woman by force of circumstances," says Xenophon, "men honor her
none the less if her affection seems to them to remain untainted."

How, then, are we to bridge over the gulf which separates us from the
Greeks? What are our sources of knowledge of Greek woman and her manner
of life?

We must first of all know the country of the Greeks. The influence of
country and climate on the Greek nationality has been frequently
emphasized, and the physical phenomena which moulded the characters of
the men must also have affected the women. A climate so mild that, as
Euripides says, "the cold of winter is without rigor, and the shafts of
Phoebus do not wound;" a soil midway between harsh sterility and
luxurious vegetation; a system of fertile plains and rugged plateaus and
varied mountain chains; a coast indented with innumerable inlets and
gulfs and bays--these were the physical characteristics which moulded
the destinies of Greek women. Furthermore, the modern Greek people trace
the threads of their history unbroken back to ancient times, in spite
of the incursions of alien peoples and years of subjugation to the Turk.
Many ancient customs survive, such as the giving of a dowry and the
bathing of the bride before the wedding ceremony. On the islands of the
Жgean, where there has been but little intercourse with foreigners, the
type of features so familiar to us from Greek sculpture still prevails,
and the visitor can see beautiful maidens who might have served as
models for Phidias and Praxiteles. The configuration of the land led to
the Greek conception of the city-state--the feature of internal polity
which had most to do with the seclusion of women.

Greek literature, however, is our chief source of knowledge in this
regard, yet even the information afforded by that literature is
inadequate and unsatisfactory in the glimpses it gives of the life of
woman. All that we know about Greek women, with the exception of the
fragments of Sappho's poems, is derived from chronicles written by men.
Now, men never write dispassionately about women. They either love or
hate them; they either idealize or caricature them. Furthermore, Greek
literature was not only written by men, but also by men for men. The
Greek reading public, the audience at the theatre, the gathering in the
Assembly and in the law courts, were almost exclusively masculine.
Remarks indicating the inferiority of the frailer but more fascinating
sex are even in our day not altogether displeasing to the average man,
and constitute one of the stock _motifs_ of humor; hence it is not to be
taken too seriously that on the Greek stage there was much abuse of
woman--though this is offset by passages in which the sex is
extravagantly praised. Euripides was once called a woman hater in the
presence of Sophocles. "Yes," was the clever response, "in his
tragedies."

Then, aside from the point of view of the writer, only meagre facts can
be gleaned here and there from Greek literature regarding the life of
Greek women. Only by gathering and comparing disparate passages
collected from writers of different views, of different States, and of
different periods, can we get anything like a systematic presentation of
the outward aspect of feminine life. We are more fortunate, however,
when we consider the subjective side; for the Greek epos and drama
present feminine portraitures which necessarily reflect, more or less
clearly, the thought and feelings of woman in the age in which the poet
flourished. Homer gives an accurate portrayal of the Heroic Age, on the
borderland of which his own life was passed, while memories of it were
still fresh in the minds of men. The Athenian tragedians also locate
their plots in the Heroic Age, but they endow their characters with a
depth of thought, with a power of reflection, with an insight into the
problems of life, which were altogether foreign to men and women in the
childhood of the world, and were characteristic of Athens in its
brilliant intellectual epoch. Hence a history of Greek womanhood must
draw largely from the works of the poets, and must endeavor to give a
picture of the women who figure in the Iliad and the Odyssey and in the
dramas of Жschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The lyric poets of Greece
are also of unique importance in the study of ancient humanity, for they
reveal the hearts of men and women and make known the conflicts of the
soul. The historical women of Hellas are few in number, and are known to
us only through meagre passages in the historians, orators, and
philosophers.

A third source of information is Greek art. When woman figures so
largely in the few relics of antiquity which have come down to us
intact, what a commentary on ancient womanhood must the art of the
Greeks have been, before the ruthless hands of Romans and barbarians and
the tooth of time effaced her most precious treasures! The vase
paintings of the Greeks illustrate every phase of private life, and
abound in representations of the maiden and the matron, in the home, at
the loom, in the bridal procession, at the wedding. And Greek sculpture
presents ideal types of woman, perfect physically and highly endowed
with every intellectual and sensuous charm. From these works of plastic
art, abounding in the museums of Europe, we know that the Greek woman
was beautiful, the peer of man in physical excellence. In form, the
Greek woman was so perfect as to be still taken as the type of her sex.
"Her beauty, from whatever cause, bordered closely upon the ideal, or
rather was that which, because now only found in works of art, we call
the ideal. But our conceptions of form never transcend what is found in
nature. She bounds our ideas by a circle over which we cannot step. The
sculptors of Greece represented nothing but what they saw; and even when
the cunning of their hand was most felicitous, even when love and grace
and all the poetry of womanhood appeared to breathe from their marbles,
the inferiority of their imitation to the creations of God, in
properties belonging to form, in mere contour, in the grouping and
development of features, must have sufficed to impress even upon
Phidias, that high priest of art, how childish it was to rise above
nature." But it is not merely physical perfection which appeals to us in
these masterpieces of plastic art. Love and tenderness and every womanly
charm find expression in every feature of the countenance; and there is,
above all, a moral dignity, an elevation of soul, a spiritual fervor,
which lift us from things of earth and impart aspirations toward the
eternal. The women who gave insight and inspiration to the sculptor in
his portrayal of Hera and of Athena and of Aphrodite must have possessed
in some measure the qualities imparted by the artist to his works. The
status of woman among the Greeks differs according to the period, tribe,
and form of government, and all the various phases of life and
civilization arising from these must be taken into consideration in
reaching our conclusions. Greek history falls into certain well-defined
periods which are distinct in culture and civilization. There is first
the Heroic Age, portrayed in Greek mythology and in the Homeric poems,
the age of demigods and valiant warriors and noble women. This is the
monarchical period in Greek history. Kings presided over the destinies
of men, and about them were gathered the nobles. Society was
aristocratic; the life portrayed was the life of courts. A court made a
queen necessary; and where there is a queen, woman is always a source of
influence and power for good or evil, and wins either the deference and
regard, or the fear and resentment of men. Succeeding the Heroic Age,
there followed the "storm and stress" period in Greek life, when
monarchies were overturned and gave place to oligarchies, and they, in
turn, to tyrannies; when commerce was developing, colonies were being
sent out to distant parts of the Mediterranean, and the aristocratic
classes were enjoying the results of wealth and travel and the
interchange of social courtesies. In this period, epic poetry declined,
and lyric poetry took its place in the three forms of elegiac, iambic,
and melic; the arts, too, were beginning to be cultivated. This is the
Transition Age of Greece. In aristocratic circles, among the families of
the oligarchs and in the courts of tyrants, woman continued to hold a
prominent place; but among the poorer classes, who were ground down by
the aristocrats, life was hard and bitter, and woman was censured as
the source of many of the ills of mankind.

The Transition Age constitutes the portal admitting to Historical Greece
proper. In most communities, the levelling process has gone on, and
democracies have taken the place of oligarchies and tyrannies. The
people have asserted themselves and are regnant. It is a noteworthy fact
in Greek history that where democracy prevailed woman was least highly
regarded and had fewest privileges. In Athens, where democracy was
all-controlling, feminine activities were confined largely to the
women's apartments of the house. In other cities, oligarchies continued
to have power, and an aristocracy was still recognized, as at Sparta;
and here the privileges and freedom of woman were very great.

The early tribal divisions among the Greeks must also be taken into
consideration. The Achжans are closely identified with the Heroic Age;
they built up the powerful States in the Peloponnesus, and undertook the
first great national expedition of Hellas. Thus the Achжans are the
representative Homeric people, with its monarchical life and the
prominent social status of its women. The Achжan civilization gave way
before the Dorian migration, and ceased to be a factor in Greek history.
Of the three remaining divisions, the Жolians inhabited parts of
Thessaly, Boeotia, and especially the island of Lesbos, and the Greek
colonies of Asia Minor along the shores of the North Жgean. Their most
brilliant period was during the Transition Age, when Lesbos was ruled by
a wealthy and powerful aristocracy and later by a tyranny, and when
lyric poetry reached its perfect bloom in the verses of Sappho. Жolian
culture was marked by its devotion to music and poetry and by its
richness and voluptuousness. At no other time and place in the whole
history of Hellas did woman possess so much freedom and