semanship are as suitable to women as to men. I further affirm that
nothing can be more absurd than the practice which prevails in our
country, of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their
strength and with one mind, for thus the State, instead of being a
whole, is reduced to a half."

The view of Plato, as stated in his _Republic_, which aroused the most
hostile criticism was his theory of the community of women as well as of
property. But this grew out of the fundamental thesis in his theory of
government: that the State must be developed into a perfect unity. The
family as a private possession disturbed this unity, and must therefore
be dispensed with.

This theory, however, proved too extreme, even for Plato himself, and in
his Laws he returns to the idea of marriage, but he follows the Spartan
system by putting marriage under the constant surveillance of
legislation. He wishes every man to contract that marriage which is most
beneficial to the State, not that which is most pleasing to himself. He
urges that people of opposing temperaments and of different conditions
in life should wed,--the stronger with the weaker, the richer with the
poorer,--"perceiving that the city ought to be well mingled, like a cup
in which the maddening wine is hot and fiery, but, when chastened by a
soberer god, receives a fair associate and becomes an excellent and
temperate drink." By such arguments he endeavors to beguile the spirits
of men into believing that the equability of their children's
disposition is of more importance than equality when they marry.

The philosopher does not seem to see the humor in his proposal to bring
together contrary natures, nor the pain he would inflict on the parties
most concerned. With him the interest of the State is supreme, and to
that everything must yield.

However, even amid such extreme doctrines we find wise counsel, inspired
by a more practical and humane spirit. Plato finds fault with the
prevailing custom of not giving young people an opportunity to become
acquainted with each other before marriage; and he recognizes, from the
excellent influence of the wife's activity in the home, how much she
might contribute to the well-being of the State if she were taken out of
seclusion and intimately associated with the life of her husband.

The woman's rights movement reached its high-water mark in the works of
Plato. Thenceforth there were a gradual decline in the conception