30
The women of Egypt, by inherited custom, were not allowed to wear shoes,This is quite contrary to the classical Greek tradition (Herodotus, ii. 35; Sophocles, Oedipus Coloneus 339), which errs just as badly in the other direction. so that they should stay at home all day; and most women, if you take from them gold-embroidered shoes, bracelets, anklets, purple, and pearls, stay indoors.
31
Theano,Wife of Pythagoras the philosopher. The story is told a little more fully by Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, iv. p. 522 c. in putting her cloak about her exposed her arm. Somebody exclaimed, A lovely arm. But not for the public, said she. Not only the arm of the virtuous woman, but her speech as well, ought to be not for the public, and she ought to be modest and guarded about saying anything in the hearing of outsiders, since it is an exposure of herself; for in her talk can be seen her feelings, character, and disposition.
32
Pheidias made the Aphrodite of the Eleans with one foot on a tortoise,Pausanias, vi. 25. 1; cf. also Plutarch, Moralia, 381 E. Roscher, Lexikon d. gr. u. rom. Mythologie, i. p. 412, mentions two ancient bronzes, one Greek and one Etruscan, in which Aphrodite is represented with one foot on a tortoise. to typify for womankind keeping at home and keeping silence. For a woman ought to do her talking either to her husband or through her husband, and she should not feel aggrieved if, like the flute-player, she makes a more impressive sound through a tongue not her own.
