achievement in the fine arts that is really great,
genuine, and original; or given to the world any work of permanent
value in any sphere. This is most strikingly shown in regard to
painting, where mastery of technique is at least as much within their
power as within ours--and hence they are diligent in cultivating it;
but still, they have not a single great painting to boast of, just
because they are deficient in that objectivity of mind which is so
directly indispensable in painting. They never get beyond a subjective
point of view. It is quite in keeping with this that ordinary women
have no real susceptibility for art at all; for Nature proceeds in
strict sequence--_non facit saltum_. And Huarte[1] in his _Examen de
ingenios para las scienzias_--a book which has been famous for
three hundred years--denies women the possession of all the higher
faculties. The case is not altered by particular and partial
exceptions; taken as a whole, women are, and remain, thorough-going
Philistines, and quite incurable. Hence, with that absurd arrangement
which allows them to share the rank and title of their husbands they
are a constant stimulus to his ignoble ambitions. And, further, it is
just because they are Philistines that modern society, where they
take the lead and set the tone, is in such a bad way. Napoleon's
saying--that _women have no rank_--should be adopted as the right
standpoint in determining their position in society; and as regards
their other qualities Chamfort[2] makes the very true remark: _They
are made to trade with our own weaknesses and our follies, but not
with our reason. The sympathies that exist between them and men are
skin-deep only, and do not touch the mind or the feelings or the
character_. They form the _sexus sequior_--the second sex, inferior in
every respect to the first; their infirmities should be treated
with consideration; but to show them great reverence is extremely
ridiculous, and lowers us in their eyes. When Nature made two
divisions of the human race, she did not draw the line exactly through
the middle. These divisions are polar and opposed to each other, it is
true; but the difference between them is not qualitative merely, it is
also quantitative.

[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--- Juan Huarte (1520?-1590)
practised as a physician at Madrid. The work cited by Schopenhauer is
known, and has been translated into many languages.]

[Footnote 2: _Translator's Note_.--See _Counsel