Therefore Euripides
is right when he says that he loves and hates woman simultaneously.
The misogynist is he who only hates woman, but Euripides loves her
also. Therefore he is not a misogynist. What do you think, Aspasia?"
"Wise Socrates! You confess that Euripides hates women, therefore he
is a woman-hater."
"No, my dear child, I admitted that Euripides _both_ loves and hates
women,--_both_, mark you. I love Alcibiades, but I abhor and hate
his want of character; now I ask the friends here, am I a hater of
Alcibiades?"
"No, certainly not," they answered simultaneously. But Aspasia was
roused, and wished to rouse him. "Wise Socrates, how do matters
stand between you and your wife?"
"The wise man does not willingly speak of his wife," Protagoras
struck in: "nor of his weakness."
"You have said it. One sacrifices to the earth, but unwillingly; one
binds oneself, but without pleasure; one endures, but loves not; one
does one's duty to the State, but with difficulty. There is only one
Aspasia, and she belongs to Pericles--the greatest woman to the
greatest man. Pericles is the greatest in the State, as Euripides is
the greatest on the stage."
This was an opportunity for Protagoras, without his needing to seek
it. "Is Euripides greater than Aeschylus and Sophocles?" he asked.
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