Well
then, so much for self-control. As for justice, would not the woman who studies
philosophy be just, would she not be a blameless life-partner, would she not be
a sympathetic helpmate, would she not be an untiring defender of husband and
children, and would she not be entirely free of greed and arrogance?
And
who better than the woman trained in philosophy— and she certainly of necessity
if she has really acquired philosophy —would be disposed to look upon doing a
wrong as worse than suffering one (as much worse as it is the baser), and to
regard being worsted as better than gaining an unjust advantage? Moreover, who
better than she would love her children more than life itself? What woman would
be more just than such a one?
Neither
men nor women can be temperate without being guided by wisdom, and this will in
turn be true of all the virtues. Philosophy, then, as the very means by which
we can understand the true from the false and the right from the wrong, will be a
foundation for the life well lived.
It
is not to be reserved only for some, but it is made for everyone. It is not the
privilege of the few, but it is the responsibility of the many. It is not just
a luxury, but it is a necessity. Rich and poor, young and old, men and women
are all called to philosophy, simply by being human.
Justice
is as universal a virtue as temperance, and as the virtue that must inform all
social relations, it will determine the very structure of the family and the community.
How
should husbands and wives, parents and children, friends and neighbors, show the
proper respect for one another? Scholars can write as many profound books about
justice as they wish, though they will be of little use if none of us can actually
practice any of it.
We
often like to speak of justice in terms of getting what we believe is
rightfully ours, as a defense of what is owed to us, but I am pleased to see how
Musonius Rufus follows a slightly different path.
As
he describes the woman who is just, he says that she is blameless, sympathetic,
and a defender of her family. This becomes possible because she is neither
greedy nor arrogant, because she does not first think of what she deserves from
others, but of what others deserve from her. Justice grows out of the giving,
not out of the receiving. Our job is to rule our own actions, not those of
others.
And
so I cannot help but think immediately of the women I have known in my own life
who lived in precisely this way, firm and confident in their own character,
regardless of all the posing and posturing of other people around them.
Like
any of us, they were grateful to be appreciated and praised, but that was never
why they did what they did. They did what they did because they loved others,
and they found their own worth in the fullest expression of that love.
Better
to suffer a wrong than to ever commit a wrong, better to bear unfairness from
others than to ever be unfair oneself. Those who build their lives around a
sense of entitlement will not understand this, even as the women who raised me
understood it completely, and tried their best to instill those same values in
me. Their example proved that they weren’t just mouthing fancy words.
I was still fairly young, but I do remember asking my grandmother once why women
sometimes seemed so much stronger than men. “Motherhood will do that to you,”
she laughed, “and there are quite a few men who could learn something from it.”
I
can make more sense of her words now than I could back then. The toughness
wasn’t some sort of exhibition of prowess, intended to impress or to prove some
point, but it came from the sharp focus of dedication to the good of others, to
the level where there was never any hesitation about sacrificing anything and
everything else.
In
this way, a woman’s justice can be an example of the most perfect justice, of
complete and total self-giving for what is right. Just look at what she will do
out of love for her child. We would have no humanity at all, and hence no
philosophy at all, without it.
Written in 4/1999
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