ical existence. She cannot wander
far. If here and there the gods send their missives through
women, as through men, let them speak without remonstrance.
In no age have men been able wholly to hinder them. A Deborah
must always be a spiritual mother in Israel; a Corinna may
be excluded from the Olympic games, yet all men will hear her
song, and a Pindar sit at her feet. It is man's fault that
there ever were Aspasias and Ninons. These exquisite forms
were intended for the shrines of virtue.

'Neither need men fear to lose their domestic deities. Woman
is born for love, and it is impossible to turn her from
seeking it. Men should deserve her love as an inheritance,
rather than seize and guard it like a prey. Were they noble,
they would strive rather not to be loved too much, and to turn
her from idolatry to the true, the only Love. Then, children
of one Father, they could not err, nor misconceive one
another.

'Society is now so complex, that it is no longer possible to
educate woman merely as woman; the tasks which come to her
hand are so various, and so large a proportion of women are
thrown entirely upon their own resources. I admit that this
is not their state of perfect development; but it seems as
if heaven, having so long issued its edict in poetry and
religion, without securing intelligent obedience, now
commanded the world in prose, to take a high and rational
view. The lesson reads to me thus:--

'Sex, like rank, wealth, beauty, or talent, is but an accident
of birth. As you would not educate a soul to be an aristocrat,
so do not to be a woman. A general regard to her usual sphere
is dictated in the economy of nature. You need never enforce
these provisions rigorously. Achilles had long plied the
distaff as a princess, yet, at first sight of a sword, he
seized it. So with woman, one hour of love would teach her
more of her proper relations, than all your formulas and
conventions. Express your views, men, of what you _seek_ in
woman: thus best do you give them laws. Learn, women, what you
should _demand_ of men: thus only can they become themselves.
Turn both from the contemplation of what is merely phenomenal
in your existence, to your permanent life as souls. Man, do
not prescribe how the Divine shall display itself in woman.
Woman, do not expect