rs of the leading lights of their systems.
Many of the philosophers yielded themselves readily to the seductions of
their beautiful and clever adherents; yet there were some choice spirits
who deplored the demoralizing tendencies which hetairism brought into
serious pursuits, and protested in no uncertain language.

These philosopher-hetaerae were indisputably the most interesting
phenomenon in the social life of ancient times, to which the later Greek
world and modern times afford no adequate parallel. They were present
always at theatrical exhibitions and on all public occasions when
respectable women remained at home. They took an absorbing interest in
politics and in all public affairs; they discussed with the citizens the
burning questions of the day; they criticised the acts of statesmen, the
speeches of orators, the dramas of the poets, the productions of
painters and sculptors. They exerted, in a word, an enormous influence
for good or ill on the social and political life of the day; while they
themselves had the consciousness of a mission to perform in having in
their hands the real power of their sex.

Almost every great man in Athens had his "companion," usually in
addition to a lawful wife. Plato had Archeanassa, to whom he wrote
sonnets; but we know not what were her attractions. "For dear to me
Theoris is," sings Sophocles; and we should like to know more of
Archippa, to whom he left his fortune. Aristotle had his Herpyllis, and
the eloquent Isocrates his Metaneira. Speusippus, Plato's successor,
found a "companion" in Lasthenia, and Epicurus in Leontium. It is
difficult to believe that all these for whom the learned men of the day
showed such regard were vicious women; in fact, some of them are
described as noble and high-minded.

"She was a citizen, without a guardian
Or any near relations, and her manner
Pure, and on virtue's strictest model form'd,
A genuine mistress [Greek: heraira]: for the rest of the crew
Bring into disrepute, by their vile manner,
A name which in itself has nothing wrong."

But if the careers of the learned hetaerae were influential, they did not
equal in brilliancy and power those of the more celebrated domestic
hetaerae. The vastness of the influence of this latter class is best shown
by naming the prominent rulers of various periods who were under the
domination of their "companions." We have in an earlier chapter called
attention to the