7.4
Ah, Ischomachus, said I, that is just what I want to hear from you. Did you yourself train your wife to be of the right sort, or did she know her household duties when you received her from her parents?
7.5
Why, what knowledge could she have had, Socrates, when I took her for my wife? She was not yet fifteen years old when she came to me, and up to that time she had lived in leading-strings, seeing, hearing and saying as little as possible.
7.6
If when she came she knew no more than how, when given wool, to turn out a cloak, and had seen only how the spinning is given out to the maids, is not that as much as could be expected? For in control of her appetite, Socrates, she had been excellently trained; and this sort of training is, in my opinion, the most important to man and woman alike.
7.7
But in other respects did you train your wife yourself, Ischomachus, so that she should be competent to perform her duties? Oh no, Socrates; not until I had first offered sacrifice and prayed that I might really teach, and she learn what was best for us both.
7.8
Did not your wife join with you in these same sacrifices and prayers? Oh yes, earnestly promising before heaven to behave as she ought to do; and it was easy to see that she would not neglect the lessons I taught her.
7.9
Pray tell me, Ischomachus, what was the first lesson you taught her, since I would sooner hear this from your lips than an account of the noblest athletic event or horse-race?
