A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

Mutual Helpfulness 285
receiving, He set down memory and carefulness between
them for their common use, so that you would find it hard
to determine which of the two, the male or the female,
has the larger share of these. So, too, God set down between
them for their common use the gift of self-control,
where needed, adding only to that one of the twain,
whether man or woman, which should prove the better,
the power to be rewarded with a larger share of this perfection.
And for the very reason that their natures are
not alike adapted to like ends, they stand in greater need
the one fulfilHng what the other lacks.
"Now, being well aware of this, my wife," I added,
of one another; and the married couple is made more useful
to itself,
"and knowing well what things are laid upon us twain by
God Himself, must we not strive to perform, each in the
best way possible, our respective duties?
Law, too, gives
her consent—law and the usage of mankind, by sanctioning
the wedlock of man and wife; and just as God ordained
them to be partners in
their children, so the law
establishes their common ownership of house and estate.
Custom, moreover, proclaims as beautiful those excellencies
of man and woman with which God gifted them at
birth. Thus for a woman to bide trancjuilly at home
rather than roam abroad is no dishonor; but for a man to
remain indoors, instead of devoting himself to outdoor
pursuits, is a thing discreditable. But if a man does
things contrary to the nature given him by God, the
chances are, such insubordination escapes not the eye of
queen-bee we spoke of labors hard to perform, like yours,
my wife, enjoined upon her by God Himself."
Woman endowed
with
memory and
carefulness.
Husband
and wife are
partners and
joint owners
of the estate.
Heaven; he pays the penalty, whether of neglecting his
own works, or of performing those appropriate to woman."
I added: "Just such works, if I mistake not, that same The wife ia
like aqueeubee.