affect the whole
nature, and are not, as Plato supposes, confined to a single point. But
neither can we say how far these differences are due to education and
the opinions of mankind, or physically inherited from the habits and
opinions of former generations. Women have been always taught, not
exactly that they are slaves, but that they are in an inferior position,
which is also supposed to have compensating advantages; and to this
position they have conformed. It is also true that the physical form may
easily change in the course of generations through the mode of life; and
the weakness or delicacy, which was once a matter of opinion, may become
a physical fact. The characteristics of sex vary greatly in different
countries and ranks of society, and at different ages in the same
individuals. Plato may have been right in denying that there was any
ultimate difference in the sexes of man other than that which exists in
animals, because all other differences may be conceived to disappear in
other states of society, or under different circumstances of life and
training.

The first wave having been passed, we proceed to the second--community
of wives and children. 'Is it possible? Is it desirable?' For as Glaucon
intimates, and as we far more strongly insist, 'Great doubts may
be entertained about both these points.' Any free discussion of the
question is impossible, and mankind are perhaps right in not allowing
the ultimate bases of social life to be examined. Few of us can safely
enquire into the things which nature hides, any more than we can
dissect our own bodies. Still, the manner in which Plato arrived at his
conclusions should be considered. For here, as Mr. Grote has remarked,
is a wonderful thing, that one of the wisest and best of men should have
entertained ideas of morality which are wholly at variance with our
own. And if we would do Plato justice, we must examine carefully the
character of his proposals. First, we may observe that the relations of
the sexes supposed by him are the reverse of licentious: he seems rather
to aim at an impossible strictness. Secondly, he conceives the family
to be the natural enemy of the state; and he entertains the serious
hope that an universal brotherhood may take the place of private
interests--an aspiration which, although not justified by experience,
has possessed many noble minds. On the other hand, there is no sentiment
or imagination in the connections which men and wom