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imparted the secret of eloquence; and poets and artists, who bow in deference to no other critic, are happy to lay their triumphs at her feet. The whole circle of her acquaintance, and what illustrious Athenian is not down upon that list, emphatically pronounce her the very incarnation of genius and of taste. Cynics, who have not seen her, it is true, declare this all a delusion of the Paphian goddess; and well it might be, for who, with the heart of a man within him, could exercise the harsh, cold function of the critic under the influence of eyes softer and brighter than the evening star, and accents sweeter than the music of the spheres ?

Such was Aspasia, the most famous representative of the only class of women in Athens whose society was valued by men of cultivation and intelligence, and, melancholy to relate, they deserved the name of courtesans. But let not the epithet cause them to be confounded with those wretched, and, in every respect, most degraded creatures, to whom alone we are in the habit of hearing it applied. With such it is true that Athens was replete. Beings of a very different order, however, were the fair Lamia, whose sparkling witticisms have come to us embalmed in an atmosphere of philosophy; fascinating, but ill-starred Lais, that most munificent patroness of art; or Leontium, the brilliant disciple of Epicurus, whose classic style inspired even Cicero with envy and admiration. What, then, it may be asked, were these anomalous beings? Whence was derived the magic of an influence which seems to have obliterated the distinctions of morality; which could triumph alike over the genius of a Pericles, the wisdom and virtue of a Socrates, the pomp of a Demetrius, and the pride of an Alexander?

Hetæræ-female associates-was the modest appellation by which they were distinguished. The term hetæra,* like porne, strumpet, implied a woman whose morality offered no troublesome barrier to sensual gratification. But this was not all-as might readily be deduced from the literal meaning of the word, it also conveyed the idea of an agreeable companion. Polite accomplishments, such as skill in music and dancing, they were expected to possess, and that conversational talent, wit, and delicate tact

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Η πόρνη.

were also looked for it is reasonable to suppose. In addition to which some derived eclat from devotion to the fine arts generally, some from literary, and others from scientific attainments. Many of the hetæræ-nearly all of the most famous, are said to have been strangers. Attica, gifted as were her sons, with respect to person as well as intellect, does not appear to have been at all remarkable for either the mental or physical attraction of her daughters. From the love-inspiring home of Sappho, from many a group of clustering isles that grace the bosom of the Ægean sea, from parts of Asia where the Ionic race had gradually become imbued with the voluptuous grace and exuberant fancy of oriental climes; in short, from every spot not too remote for the intercourse of the times, where nature had been most lavish in her endowment of the sex, they flocked in numbers to the Grecian shore: sometimes in the hardy spirit of adventure, bound on an enterprise of conquest and of gain, sometimes conspicuous amid the spoils of the warrior, more frequently perhaps than either in the train of the woman merchant, purchased as slaves in cold-blooded speculation. Those of ordinary mould sank quickly into the debasement and misery incident to their calling: a mad career of unbridled dissipation naturally terminated in the extreme of wretchedness, and the youthful idol of the votaries of pleasure was rapidly transformed into a loathsome object of universal contempt. Such was not, however, the fate of all. Amid the herd of unfortunates were sometimes found those who seemed destined for a higher lot, women of brilliant, vigorous and cultivated intellect, more than ordinary strength of character, admirable taste, and never failing tact, advantages by the aid of which the social position of the hetæra became, in many respects, superior to that of the honest matron. Such an one, to be sure, as well as the less gifted, labored under many opprobrious restrictions. She was allowed the use of no domestics, unless they were persons of her own class; she was prohibited any share in those religious festivals which appear to have been a source of the greatest enjoyment to the virtuous wives and daughters of Attica; her sons were excluded from the highest privilege of an Athenian citizen, the right of taking part in the discussion of public measures and questions coming before the courts of justice; and, even when humbled and penitent, overwhelmed by a sense of her melan

choly fate, the unfortunate woman, seeking pardon and support from her country's Gods, desired to take part in the services of the temple, from its sacred precincts the harshness of the law condemned her to expulsion, as if numbered already among those destined to perdition. All this, however, could not subdue the energies of genius, quell the aspirations of ambition, or repress the buoyancy of hope; much that law, that usage, that morality denied, was ac corded to beauty, accomplishments and talent, and the tender devotion and confidential intercourse for which the wife, however exemplary, could scarcely hope, were not unfrequently lavished upon her fascinating rival.

But, fully to understand how these women acquired a position and degree of influence at first sight unaccountable, it is necessary to bear in mind a combination of traits strikingly exhibited in the character of the Athenian. Although there is reason for believing that, to the charms of inanimate nature he was strangely insusceptible, his admiration for the beautiful, as met with in the noblest of God's creatures, whether in the loftier form of man, or gentle woman's "sweet attractive grace," was a passion amounting almost to idolatry. Fron what other people on whom the light of heaven has ever shone could there have coine that almost superhuman embodiment of "beautiful disdain, and might, and majesty," the dreadful "god of the unerring bow;" or the inimitable Venus, perhaps an even more wonderful production-an exquisite combination of all that the delicacy of sentiment could conceive with all that the ardor of voluptuousness could desire? When their very deities are so frequently represented as descending from heaven to seek this inestimable treasure upon earth, is it surprising that the wise and virtuous even, should so commonly have united the ideas of τὸ καλὸν, the beautiful, and τὸ ἀγαθὸν, the good? The two seem to have been held in nearly equal estimation, or rather to have been almost indissolubly associated in their minds.

Are we not told that at Corinth was a temple dedicated to the earthly Venus, the priestesses of which were courtesans,―harpies long bitterly remembered by many a visitor to that great emporium, and that, after the invasion of Xerxes, to the intercession of these servants of the goddess, the delivery of the country from peril so imminent was piously attributed by the magistrates of the republic, and

acknowledged by having executed at the public expense portraits of the illustrious devotees?

The virtuous and the wise, even, discriminating but imperfectly between the beautiful and the good, it would be only rational to suppose that with the great mass, of less abstract turn and less elevated morality, the beautiful usurped almost exclusive adoration-such, at all events, appears to have been the case. Add to this that the Athenian was exceedingly averse to the responsibility of providing for a family-a common trait of the sensualist every where-and that no restraint from either a religion of stern moral code, or a delicate sense of honor, or good faith, interposed a barrier between wanton desire and unlimited indulgence, and we may readily understand how, while the virtuous but unattractive wife sat lonely, disconsolate, and repining at her fate, the accomplished and fascinating, although dissolute hetæra, reigned chosen companion of the social hour and undisputed mistress of the heart.

Now, does this singular story of the past suggest no interesting question with reference the present? Strange, indeed, it may appear that, with such evidences of woman's capacity before him, demonstrative proof of the high development of which she was susceptible, even when bowed under infamy and vice, the Athenian could have allotted a position between that of a domestic and a child, to one intended for his companion, "his solace and delight;" but has the position of woman since changed so much as to warrant us in an ostentation of gratitude for her present exceedingly elevated condition, and our own superiority in liberality and acumen to the benighted countrymen of Plato and Aristotle ? As wife, as mother, as the elevator and purifier of society, is woman yet what it is desirable that she should be, and what nature has fully qualified her to become? Upon a tacit assumption-one altogether gratuitous-that her mental capacity is by nature very limited, does there not at present repose a system under which the development of the female intellect and character would, under any circumstances, effectually be restrained-grossly defective training of both mind and body, aiming at no definite object, and with no satisfactory result? Is the girl now allowed any thing like the opportunities which are forced on every booby brother in her family; or rather, is there not so wide a difference in the course of education, both mental

and physical, to which the two sexes are generally subjected, that it would be hardly more just to institute an invidious comparison between them, than for the unfortunate domestic goose, nailed to a single spot, and torpified by being crammed with twice as much as the system cails for, or can normally dispose of,* to be stigmatized as naturally of an inferior race because destitute of the activity and power exhibited by the wild bird of her own species, whose shrill and joyous notes, softened by distance, fall musically on the ear, from light clouds floating through the upper heaven?

But to what, it may be asked, does all this tend? Are the two sexes by nature in every respect equal? Is the one quite as well suited as the other for any position in which strength of intellect and character are the qualities particularly called for? In mental, as well as physical power, man is doubtless superior to his help meet; but if intellect alone be taken into consideration the difference between the sexes is, we are sure, very much less than is generally supposed. Far from us, however, be any thing like a desire to change the sphere of woman's activity and influence; to call away the fond and anxious mother from little ones dependant on her constant care; or the gentle daughter, surrounded by an atmosphere of purity and love, from a family regarding her as their choicest blessing; or the veterau fashionable, even, from a career exacting so much of patience and long suffering as, doubtless, to exert some wholesome influence upon the character; or the sweet little novice, eager and hopeful, from all the promises of a lively imaginationnone of these would we call upon to resign her position, for the purpose of directing the course of legislation, presiding over the administration of justice, or investigating the mysteries of science. All that can reasonably be desiredthat all, however, including, as we think, something more than general usage exacts--is that woman be qualified to discharge the functions of her true position. Greater delicacy of organization, both mental and physical, keener susceptibilities and intensity of affection and sympathy, at the same time that they render her less fit for public stations than the sterner sex, clearly indicate the domestic circle and social life as woman's proper and peculiar sphere. These they admirably qualify her to preside over and to grace,

• The reputed method of obtaining a well known luxury of the gourmand,