if her husband has been ailing and made a mistake,
she ought not to keep it on her mind, but to lay the blame on disease
or ignorance....

But the husband in his turn should find out certain laws to regulate
his treatment of his wife, as one who entered the house of her husband
to share his children and his life, and to leave him a progeny
destined to bear the names of her husband's parents and her own. And
what in the world could there be more holy than these ties? or what is
there about which a man in his sound sense could strive more earnestly
than to beget the children who shall hereafter nurse his declining
years, from the best and most praiseworthy of wives; for they are to
be, as it were, the best and most pious preservers of their father and
mother, and guardians of the entire family. For it is probable that
they will turn out good, if they have been reared uprightly by their
parents in the habitual practise of what is just and holy but if the
contrary should be the case, they will suffer the loss themselves. For
unless parents afford their children a fit pattern of life, they will
leave them an obvious excuse to quote against themselves. And this is
to be feared, that if they have not lived well, their sons will
disregard them, and neglect them in their old age.

On this account nothing is to be omitted which tends to the fit
education of a bride, so that the children may be born of the best
possible mother. For the husbandman neglects nothing so as to cast his
seed upon the richest and best wrought ground, considering that it is
from such a soil that he will hereafter reap the fairest fruits; and
if any violence threatens, he fights against his enemy, and
deliberately chooses to die rather than endure to see it ravaged; and
such a disposition as this is praised by most persons. And as such is
the care which is spent by us on the support of our bodies, what
manner of men ought we to show ourselves on behalf of our children and
of the mother that is to rear them? Ought we not most readily to
strain every nerve? For in this way alone does the constitution of
man's nature, which is mortal, attain to prosperity, and the prayers
of parents all tend to this one end. And hence, whoever cares not for
this is sure to be regardless of the gods.

It was for the sake of the gods, then, who were present to him when
he offered the marriage sacrifice, that he not only took to himself a
wife, but also (what is far more) gav