A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Xantippe
XANTIPPE,
Wife of Socrates, the Athenian philosopher, was remarkable for the moroseness and violence of her temper. It is said that Socrates was aware of her character, and married her to exercise his patience. She, however, loved her husband, and mourned his death, which took place about 398 B.C., with the deepest grief. If we take into the account this true love she felt for her husband, and consider what she must have suffered while he was passing his evenings in the society of the beautiful and fascinating Aspasia, we shall hardly wonder at her discontent. If his wife loved him, it must have been for his mind, as he was not endowed with attractions that win the eye and fancy of a woman; and thus loving him, she must have keenly felt the discord between the wisdom of his teachings and the foolishness of his conduct. That he acknowledged her influence over him was good, is a sufficient proof of her true devotion to him; had he been as true to her, he would have been a wiser and a better man; and she, no doubt, a much milder as well as a happier woman.