Woman in the
Golden Ages
By
Amelia Gere Mason
New York
The Century Co.
1901
Copyright, 1901, by
The Century Co.
Published October, 1901.
THE DEVINNE PRESS.
TO THE
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN
OF TO-DAY
[Pg vii]
PREFACE
In this series of detached essays I have tried to gather and groupthe most salient and essential facts relating to the character,position, and intellectual attainments of women in the great agesof the world. It is not an easy matter to trace with any exactnessthe lives of women of classic times, as they were largely ignored bymen who chronicled events. If the historians gave them any place atall, it was an insignificant one, concerning only their relations tomen, and they were more inclined to sing the praises of those whoministered to masculine caprices than of those distinguished for anymerit whatever. There were exceptions in the cases of a few womenof very remarkable gifts; but even these were subject to the worstaspersions, for the simple reason that they had the courage of theirtalents and convictions. This[Pg viii] fashion of considering women only asconvenient appendages of men may account largely for the space givento those of more beauty and sensuous charm than decorum—a fact whichhas doubtless misled after-ages. It accounts also for the recklessflings of satirists and comedians, who were even less to be trusted inearly times than they are to-day. Truth compels me to recall more orless the contemptuous attitude of men, as it was too large a factor indetermining the position of women to be omitted. But in no case has itbeen exaggerated, or set down in a spirit of antagonism.
The most striking points in the lives of world-famous women aresufficiently familiar. True or false, they are often quoted in proofof one theory or another. But a few isolated facts gathered at randomcount for little. It is only in the grouping of many facts of many agesthat the real quality of the old types of womanhood can be clearlydiscerned. One is constantly confronted, however, with discrepanciesin the records. This may be readily understood when we consider theimpossibility of getting a correct version of things that happen nextdoor to us. Reports of events and estimates of character are about asvarious as the people who[Pg ix] offer them. One can only accept those whichhave the most inherent probability, or are given by the chronicler whohas the best reputation for veracity. So far as possible, I have reliedupon contemporary writers for the facts of their own age; but I am alsoindebted largely to the research of the great modern historians. In thefew classic or Italian translations, I have usually availed myself ofthose nearest at hand, if they had the stamp of authority, though theymight not always be the latest, perhaps not even the best.
These essays a