women of Greece were the courtesans, and the houses of the most famous of these were the resorts of the wisest and cleverest poets, philosophers, and writers which Greece has produced. It is generally accepted as an established fact that many women of that time chose the life of the prostitute as affording them the only opportunity of enjoying the culture they desired. By coming into close touch in this public way with the best minds of their time, they became acquainted with various subjects, acquiring a knowledge of history and a taste for art which no other life would have granted them. To quote one writer, Winwood Reade: “In Greece, a lady could only enter society by adopting a mode of life which, in England, usually facilitates her exit.”
The barbarians of the North found Rome seething in rottenness and sunk to a depth of degradation and corruption unparalleled in history either before or since. This is the period to which the warning finger is pointed when it is proposed to further enfranchise the women of the present. It is a most unjust comparison and prophecy. The rebellious Roman matron, no worse at least than her times, gained some liberty by
