being one of her chief charms.

Deep pondering brought about for Aristotle a view which verges toward
breadth and understanding, but is perpetually vitiated by the fact that
he regards woman as in no sense an individual existence. If all goes
well and prosperously, women deserve no credit; if ill, they may gain
renown through their husbands, the philosopher remarking: "Neither would
Alcestis have gained such renown, nor Penelope have been deemed worthy
of such praise, had they respectively lived with their husbands in
prosperous circumstances; and it is the sufferings of Admetus and
Ulysses which have given them everlasting fame."

This is Aristotle's view of women's share in the life they lived; yet
gleams of something higher more than once came to him, and in the
eighth chapter of the "Economics," he adds: "Justly to love her husband
with reverence and respect, and to be loved in turn, is that which
befits a wife of gentle birth, as to her intercourse with her own
husband." Ulysses, in his address to Nausicaa, says:--

"There is no fairer thing
Than when the lord and lady with one soul
One home possess."

Aristotle, charmed at the picture, dilates on this "mutual concord of
husband and wife, ... not the mere agreement upon servile matters, but
that which is justly and harmoniously based on intellect and
prudence."[2]

Side by side with this picture of a state known to a few only among the
noblest, must be placed the lament of "Iphigenia in Tauris":