with our
notion of the division of labour?--These objections are no sooner raised
than answered; for, according to Plato, there is no organic difference
between men and women, but only the accidental one that men beget and
women bear children. Following the analogy of the other animals, he
contends that all natural gifts are scattered about indifferently among
both sexes, though there may be a superiority of degree on the part of
the men. The objection on the score of decency to their taking part
in the same gymnastic exercises, is met by Plato's assertion that the
existing feeling is a matter of habit.

That Plato should have emancipated himself from the ideas of his own
country and from the example of the East, shows a wonderful independence
of mind. He is conscious that women are half the human race, in some
respects the more important half (Laws); and for the sake both of men
and women he desires to raise the woman to a higher level of existence.
He brings, not sentiment, but philosophy to bear upon a question which
both in ancient and modern times has been chiefly regarded in the light
of custom or feeling. The Greeks had noble conceptions of womanhood
in the goddesses Athene and Artemis, and in the heroines Antigone and
Andromache. But these ideals had no counterpart in actual life. The
Athenian woman was in no way the equal of her husband; she was not the
entertainer of his guests or the mistress of his house, but only his
housekeeper and the mother of his children. She took no part in military
or political matters; nor is there any instance in the later ages of
Greece of a woman becoming famous in literature. 'Hers is the greatest
glory who has the least renown among men,' is the historian's conception
of feminine excellence. A very different ideal of womanhood is held up
by Plato to the world; she is to be the companion of the man, and to
share with him in the toils of war and in the cares of government. She
is to be similarly trained both in bodily and mental exercises. She
is to lose as far as possible the incidents of maternity and the
characteristics of the female sex.

The modern antagonist of the equality of the sexes would argue that the
differences between men and women are not confined to the single point
urged by Plato; that sensibility, gentleness, grace, are the qualities
of women, while energy, strength, higher intelligence, are to be looked
for in men. And the criticism is just: the differences