What men think of women

Men down the ages thought of women in different ways. Some praised them to high heavens. Others condemned them mercilessly. In order to trace the stand men took on women, it is interesting to go down the dusty lanes of history.

Cornelia who lived in the 2nd century BC is said to be a woman who never had women's defects. Being the daughter of a hero, wife of an aristocrat and mother of champions of the Roman people, Cornelia was admired for her virtue, fidelity and her intelligence. She was, in fact, the standard by which Roman matrons were measured. Down the ages, she has been remembered as the ideal Roman womanhood.

Scipio, the Roman General, offered his daughter Cornelia in marriage to Tiberius. Once, Tiberius caught a pair of snakes on his bed. The soothsayers offered him a choice: If the male snake was killed, it would cause his death. If he killed the female snake, it would cause the death of Cornelia, his wife. Tiberius who loved his wife so much killed the male snake risking his own life and eventually saving the life of his wife. When Tiberius died, Cornelia had given birth to 12 children.

We have heard of many virtues as far as women were concerned. Among them loyalty to her husband appears to have been the highest excellence a woman could attain. It is interesting to note that Cornelia's mother Tertia Aemelia, too had that rare virtue. For instance, Aemilia knew that her husband - Scipio Africanus - was carrying on with one of his serving girls.

Aemilia considered that it was unbecoming on her part to question her beloved husband over such an illicit affair. She knew that her husband was a conqueror of the world and he was entitled for a little dalliance! Although such magnanimous women may be rare in the modern world, Aemelia went a step further and freed the serving girl on the death of her husband and gave her in marriage to one of her own freedmen.

Meanwhile, women have been treated very harshly by some historians. For instance, Hesiod referred to woman as a punishment meted out to man.

According to him, a woman had two best days in her life. One such day was her wedding day and the other was when the husband carried her dead body to the grave. Hesiod suggested that men should avoid the problem of living with women. Even some of Euripides' dramas suggest that men should be able to produce children without the help of women. In reality, of course, nobody has tried to produce a child without the help of a woman.

Another Greek dramatist - Aeschylus - has referred to women as 'intolerable creatures.' In one of his dramas a character says that he will not live with a woman in good or bad times. Even the Roman orator and philosopher Cicero directed his sarcasm on women in his speech made in defence of Marcus Caelius Rufus. In fact, his criticism of women was directed on Clodia. In the course of his speech, Cicero also said that he never considered it wise to make an enemy of a woman, especially when one who was generally considered everybody's friend.

Roman philosopher Rufus took a different stand on women. He advocated women's education. Once he was asked whether women should study philosophy.

He said that women had received from gods the same ability to reason. Women have the same senses as men. Both men and women had the same sensory organs of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and feeling. Therefore, no one should differentiate between men and women. What is more, both men and women have the same bodily organs and neither sex had more than the other.

Meanwhile, we have heard of women's bravery in both legend and history.

Once, some sons of the Roman nobility were drinking at a party. Each son praised his own wife. However, one son - Collatinus - who was slightly inebriated said there was no need to praise their wives. He suggested that they should pay a surprise visit to their wives to see what they were up to.

So, they got on their horses and sped on. When they reached Rome, dusk was falling. They found the daughters-in-law of the king banqueting with their friends. However, Lucretia was not to be seen. Later they traced her in the atrium house with her maidservants. She immediately greeted her husband and invited his friends to dinner. It was at that time that Sextus Tarquinius became inflamed with lust and wanted to rape Lucretia.

After some time, Sextus raped Lucretia threatening her with death. She informed her husband about the incident and wanted him to punish the wrong-doer. Meanwhile, she killed herself to absolve herself from guilt.

This shows a woman's loyalty to her husband even in the Roman times. This is also a fine example to show that a woman's greatest virtue was chastity.

There is a view that woman was created out of man's rib. According to another myth, there was only man at the beginning of the world and god separated man into two making one part man and the other woman. From then on, it is said that man cannot do without woman and vice versa.

In modern times, some liberated women have been clamouring for parity with men. However, it is a moot point whether there could be equity between man and woman. According to some writers, there is an ongoing war between man and woman. They say peace comes only when one or the other is acknowledged master. On the other hand, it is dangerous to try equality with a woman because she will not be content with that notion. She will be rather content with subordination if she finds a real man. Above all, a woman's perfection and happiness lie in motherhood.

It is not easy to understand woman who plays many roles in her life.

Although child-bearing is one of her major duties, what is woman for man? A dangerous toy? Certainly not. If there is no creature called woman in this world, there will be no love, peace, kindness, or happiness among the people. So, let us accord her a better status without criticizing her for her small foibles.