Perictione
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Perictione was the mother of the Greek philosopher Plato. She was a descendant of Solon, the Athenian lawgiver. She was married to Ariston, and had three sons—Glaucon, Adeimantus, and Plato—and a daughter, Potone. After Ariston's death, she remarried Pyrilampes, a friend of the Athenian statesman.[1]
Helen Buss Mitchell describes Perictione as a Pythagorean and author of "On the Duties of a Woman".[2] The latter can be found in English translation in Navon's The Pythagorean Writings:
A woman should be a harmony of prudence and temperence. Her soul should be zealous to acquire virtue; so that she may be just, brave, prudent, frugal, and hating vainglory. Furnished with these virtues, she will, when she becomes a wife, act worthily towards herself, her husband, her children, and her family. Frequently, also, such a woman will act beautifully towards cities, if she happens to rule over cities and nations, as we see is sometimes the case in a kingdom. If she subdues desire and anger, there will be produced a divine symphony.[3]
[edit] Sources
- ^ Plato (1992). Republic, trans. G. M. A. Grube, Indianapolis: Hackett, p. viii. ISBN 0-87220-137-6.
- ^ Mitchell, Helen Buss (2005). Roots of Wisdom, 4th ed., Belmont, Calif.: Thomson Learning, p. 37. ISBN 0-534-62622-X.
- ^ Navon, Robert (ed.) (1986). The Pythagorean Writings. Kew Gardens, N.Y.: Selene, p. 72. ISBN 0-933601-01-8.
