' 'At whom, then, _did_ you look?'
said Tigranes. 'At him who said that, to save me from servitude, he
would ransom me at the expense of his own life.'"
From the Banquet.--
"Socrates, who observed her with pleasure, said, 'This young girl has
confirmed me in the opinion I have had, for a long time, that the
female sex are nothing inferior to ours, excepting only in strength of
body, or, perhaps, his steadiness of judgment.'"
* * * * *
In the Economics, the manner in which the husband gives counsel to his
young wife presents the model of politeness and refinement. Xenophon
is thoroughly the gentleman; gentle in breeding and in soul. All the
men he describes are so, while the shades of manner are distinctly
marked. There is the serene dignity of Socrates, with gleams of
playfulness thrown across its cool, religious shades, the princely
mildness of Cyrus, and the more domestic elegance of the husband in
the Economics.
There is no way that men sin more against refinement, as well as
discretion, than in their conduct toward their wives. Let them look at
the men of Xenophon. Such would know how to give counsel, for they
would know how to receive it.
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