f the social status of Greek
women, the work is lost. Leontium had a daughter, Danae by name, who was
also a hetaera and a consistent Epicurean. She became the favorite of
Sophron, Prefect of Ephesus.

Though the Epicurean hetaerae have brought reproach upon the sect, yet
there were honorable women of irreproachable reputation who became
members of the school. The chief of these was Themista, wife of Leontius
of Lampsacus, styled by Strabo "the most excellent man of the city."
Epicurus became acquainted with the couple during his four years'
sojourn in Lampsacus and was much influenced by their learning and
culture. He won them to his system of philosophy, and he ever afterward
carried on a most industrious correspondence with them, and especially
with Themista. Her name became widely known both within and without
Epicurean circles. The Church Father Lactantius regarded her as a model
of feminine culture and as the only true philosopher among the heathen
Greeks. Themista was very active as an author, and there was in
antiquity an extensive Themista literature, which has entirely
disappeared.

As the various schools of philosophy thus far mentioned began to lose
their hold upon mankind, there were two tendencies manifest among
thoughtful people: the first, to doubt whether it was possible to
ascertain truth,--the spirit of scepticism; the second, to combine from
earlier systems whatever seemed most worthy of credence,--the spirit of
eclecticism.

The two systems which appealed most to enlightened pagans during the
earlier Christian centuries were those of Pythagoras and Plato, which
offered many points of likeness. By the union of these with certain
Hebraic or Oriental elements, there arose the philosophical amalgam
known as Neo-platonism. Plotinus is regarded as the founder of this
system in the third century of our era. Through his attractive
personality and the timeliness of his teachings, Plotinus rapidly gained
a great following among the learned, especially philosophers, statesmen,
physicians, and ladies of high social station. He passed many years in
Rome, where a large number of noble ladies, including the Empress
Salomina, were among his hearers. From Rome, Neo-platonism spread over
the Empire; and in the beginning of the fourth century, we find the
theosophist Iamblichus, who united the Neo-platonic philosophy with
thaumaturgy, attracting to himself large numbers of highly cultured men
and women, who still