Croton was so
great that the ladies of the city brought their rich apparel, their
jewels, necklaces and bracelets, to the temple of Hera, and dedicated
them as an offering to domestic virtue, vowing that henceforth prudence
and modesty, not luxurious apparel, were to be the true ornaments of
their sex. Whether this story be true or not, there is no doubt that
Pythagoras had a large number of women among his disciples, and that the
"Pythagorean Women" attained throughout the Greek world a great and
enviable reputation. Pythagoras's friendly attitude toward the sex was
probably in part the result of his cordial relations with the Delphian
priestess Aristoclea, renowned for her amiability and her wisdom, with
whom he carried on a learned correspondence. The general results of his
teachings upon woman were a high ideal of feminine morality, careful
attention to household duties, and the elevation of the conception of
motherhood, especially in the careful rearing of children.

Existing fragments of the works of "Pythagorean Women" indicate their
lofty views of moral perfection and harmony, and their practical
judgment in everyday affairs. _Sophrosyne_ is constantly commended as
the chief feminine virtue, a term connoting moderation,
self-containedness, modesty, and wifely fidelity--in a word, all that
is essentially womanly.

The Neo-pythagorean philosopher, Iamblichus, in his biography of
Pythagoras mentions fifteen celebrated women of the School. Other
writers name other female adepts in Pythagorean philosophy, who lived
during and after the time of Pythagoras. The number was so large that
the comic poets Alexis and Cratinus the Younger, who, like most
Athenians, had a genuine contempt for blue-stockings, made them the
object of much drollery and ridicule.

Of all the Pythagorean Women, none attained such exalted rank as
Pythagoras's wife, the high-minded Theano. She combined virtue and
wisdom in such perfect harmony that she was regarded in antiquity not
only as the foremost representative of feminine scholarship, but also as
the brilliant prototype of true womanhood. Of the life of Theano we know
only a few characteristic incidents, and these give insight into her
character mainly by relating "sayings" uttered by her on certain
occasions. She was once asked for what she wished to be distinguished.
She replied by quoting a verse of Homer (II. 1:31): "Minding the spindle
and tending my marriage bed." Another time, she w