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In Aristotle's time, for reasons which this brief survey of Greek literature has, perhaps, made plain, the facts of women's nature were certainly not sufficiently comprehended. Euripides and Plato are almost the only authors who show any true appreciation of a woman's real qualities, and to Euripides and Plato, Aristotle, by the whole trend of his prejudices, was opposed. His mistake was that he failed to realise the moral aspects of feminism. A nation that degrades its women will inevitably suffer degradation itself. Aristotle lent the weight of his name to a profound error, and helped to perpetuate the malady which had already been the chief cause of the destruction of Greece.
[1] Ethics, vii. 7.
[2] Ibid. vii. 6.
[3] Ethics, iv. 15.
[4] Ibid. iv. 9.
[5] Rhet. A. v. 6.
[6] Ethics, viii. 8.
[7] Ibid, viii. 12.
[8] Ethics, viii. 8.
[9] Politics, 2, 9.
[10] De Generatione, 716, a, 18.
[11] Ibid. 716, b. 10.
[12] Ibid. 717, a, 20.
[13] De Generatione, 728 a.
[14] Ibid, 784, a.
[15] De Generatione, 787, a.
[16] Hist. An., 608, b (trans. Thompson).
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