Essays, or discourses, vol. 2 (of 4)

by Benito Jerónimo Feijoo

CLV. Let the women then know, that, in point of understanding, they are not inferior to the men. They will then determine with confidence, on repelling and refuting those sophisms, by which, under the colour and pretence of reason and arguments, the men attempt injustice and injuries. If a woman can be persuaded, that a man compared to her, is an oracle, she will lend an attentive ear to the most indignant proposition, and will reverence as an infallible truth, the most notorious falsehood. It is very well known, into what acts of turpitude many women have been drawn, by the sect called Molinists, who, before their practices upon them, were esteemed very virtuous persons. This perversion, proceeded from no other cause, than their having considered these Molinists, as men of superior lights and talents, and their having entertained an extreme distrust of their own understandings, when they represented to them clearly, the falsity of those venomous dogmas.

CLVI. There is another consideration to be attended to, which is of great importance in this matter. It is certain, that every one submits easily, and without reluctance, to a person, who he is sensible has some notable advantage over him. A man serves another man without regret, who is more noble than himself, but he does it with great repugnance, if they happen to be equal in birth. The same thing is observable, or may be applied to the case we are treating of. If a woman is under the mistake, that a man is of a much more noble sex than herself, and that she, from a defect in her’s, in comparison to him, is a poor contemptible animal of little value, she will think it no shame to submit to him; and by these pre-disposing circumstances, being aided with the flattery of obsequiousness, she may be betrayed into esteeming that as an honour, which in reality is ignominious. To use the words of St. Leon’s exclamation to the men, let the women then know their dignity, and let them be sensible, that, in point of intellectual capacity, our sex has no advantage over them, and that it will ever be opprobrious and vile in them, to allow a man the dominion of their bodies, save when he is empowered to claim it, by the authority, and under the sanction, of holy matrimony.

CLVII. I have not yet told all the utility, which, in a moral sense, will result to both the men and the women, by extricating them from the error they lay under, with respect to the inequality of the sexes. I firmly believe, this error is the cause, of many marriage-beds having been dishonoured and contaminated with adulteries. It may seem that I am entangling myself in a strange paradox, but this is not the case; I having done no more, than assert an established truth. Attend.

CLVIII. A few months after the souls of two consorts, are united together by the matrimonial bond, a woman begins to lose that estimation, which she at first obtained, as a delectable object newly acquired, and recently possessed. The man, passes from tenderness to lukewarmness, which lukewarmness many times, comes to end in contempt, and positive disestimation. When the husband arrives at this vicious extreme, he, presuming on the advantages which he supposes to be annexed to the superiority of his sex, begins to triumph over, and insult his wife; instructed by, and versed in those sentences, which pronounce, that the most which a woman can attain, may be attained by a boy of fourteen years old, and that it is in vain, to seek for either sense or prudence in them, together with other ridiculous, and injurious reflections of the same kind; treating every thing he observes in his wife, with the utmost contempt. In this situation, if the poor woman attempts to remonstrate, she is accused of raving; all she says, is impertinent, and foreign to the purpose; all she does is wrong. If she is handsome, the attraction of her beauty stands her in little stead, for its charm is dissolved, and the security of possessing it, has made it of no value. The husband only recollects, that his wife is an imperfect animal; and if he neglects her, will upbraid the most spotless woman with being a vase of impurities.

CLIX. When the unhappy woman is in this humiliating and dejected state, a gallant casts fond, or, as we commonly say in Spain, good eyes on her. To her, who at all times is condemned to see nothing but a frowning brow, it is natural to suppose, a pleasant countenance appears very delightsome: and such a leading circumstance conduces much to bring on, and facilitates a conversation between the parties; in which, the woman hears nothing but what is flattering and pleasing to her. Before this, she used to be accosted in nought but terms of reproach and contempt, and now, she is addressed in expressions of tenderness and adoration. She lately was treated as something beneath a woman; and now, she is elevated to the sphere of a divinity. She was accustomed lately to be called nothing but fool; and now, she is told that she possesses a sublime understanding. In the language of her husband, she was all imperfections; in that of her gallant, she is all charms and graces. The partner of her bed, lorded it over her like a tyrant master; the other, throws himself at her feet as an humble slave; and although the lover, if he had been her husband, would have acted just as the husband did: this reflection escapes the miserable wife, and she only sees that sort of difference between them, which there is between an angel and a brute. She views in her husband, a heart full of thorns; and in her gallant, one crowned with flowers. There a chain of iron presents itself to her sight; here a golden one. There slavery; here dominion. There a dungeon; here a throne.

CLX. In this situation, what can the most resolute woman do? How can she resist two impulses, directed to the same point, one that impels, and the other which attracts her? If heaven does not stretch forth a powerful and a friendly hand to support her, her fall is inevitable. And if she does fall, who can deny that her own husband forced her over the precipice? If he had not treated her with indignity and abusive railing, the flattery of the lover would have been of no avail. It was his ill-treatment which occasioned her downfall. All this mischief, most frequently proceeds from the mean opinion, which married men are apt to entertain of the other sex. Let them renounce these erroneous maxims, and the consequence will be, that their wives will become more faithful and constant. Let them cherish and esteem them, for God has commanded they should love them; and I can’t understand, how love and contempt, with respect to the same object, can be entertained, and accommodate themselves together in one and the same heart.

ON
CHURCH MUSIC.

SECT. I.

I. In ancient times, if we believe Plutarch, music was used only in temples, and that afterwards it passed to theatres. Formerly, it served as an ornament to divine worship; afterwards, it was used to stimulate vice. Heretofore, the melody of sacred hymns only were heard; afterwards, we began to listen to profane songs. Music originally, was used as an obsequies to the Deities, it was afterwards applied to inflame the passions. In old times, it was dedicated to Apollo, but it seems as if afterwards, Apollo had divided the protection of this art with Venus; and as if to poison the soul, and paint on the theatres the charms of vice, the finest colourings of rhetoric, joined to the harmony of poetic numbers, were not sufficient, they, to render these charms more attracting, and make the venom more active, confectioned and compounded rhetoric, poetry, and music together.

II. This diversity of uses to which music was appropriated, induced a difference in the composition of it: and as it was necessary in the temple, and in the theatre, to excite distinct affections, they contrived distinct modes of melody, to correspond, as their echoes, with the different affections of the soul. The Dorian mode, as grave, majestic, and devout, was reserved for the temple; and in the theatres, they adopted different modes, suited to the diversity of the matters. In the amorous representations, they used the Lydian mode, which was soft and tender; and when they had a mind to give the movement a stronger effect and expression, they applied the mixed Lydian, which was more pathetic and striking than the Lydian by itself. In warlike representations, they used the Phrygian mode, which is terrible and furious; and in affairs of mirth and jollity, or favouring of the Bacchanalian, they adopted the Æolian, which was sprightly and comic. The Subphrygian mode, was appropriated to calm the transports, raised by the Phrygian; and thus, to produce other effects, they had other modes of melody.