DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4593#0221
THE SHRINES OF ATTICA 199
These country girls, with their brown or ruddy faces,
have no need of the cosmetics advertised in the
Athenian newspapers, which, modern though they
seem, are but the perpetuation of an ancient form of
vanity. In Xenophon's " CEconomicus" Ischomachus
relates a conversation that he had with his wife
shortly after his marriage : —
" ' I noticed that she was in the habit of using cos-
metics, that she might seem fairer and ruddier than
she was, and of wearing high shoes, that she might
appear taller than she was by nature. " Tell me, my
dear," said I, "should you esteem me more highly as
a sharer of your fortunes, if I told you exactly the
state of my property, or if I tried to deceive you by
exhibiting false coin, and necklaces of gilded wood,
and robes of spurious instead of genuine purple? "
She replied instantly, "Heaven forbid! Were you
such a man, I never could love you from my heart.''
" Well, then, would you like me better if I appeared
before you sound and healthy, fair and vigorous, or
with painted cheeks and artificially colored eyelids,
trying to cheat you by offering you paint instead
of myself?" " Why," she said, "I like you better
than paint; I prefer the natural color of your cheeks
to rouge, and I would rather look into your eyes
sparkling with health than with all the cosmetics
in the world." " Then I would have you to know
that I am more charmed with your native com-
plexion than with paint. These false pretences may
deceive the casual observer, but not those who live
together. They are exposed before the morning
toilette, or by perspiration, or by tears, or by the
bath."
These country girls, with their brown or ruddy faces,
have no need of the cosmetics advertised in the
Athenian newspapers, which, modern though they
seem, are but the perpetuation of an ancient form of
vanity. In Xenophon's " CEconomicus" Ischomachus
relates a conversation that he had with his wife
shortly after his marriage : —
" ' I noticed that she was in the habit of using cos-
metics, that she might seem fairer and ruddier than
she was, and of wearing high shoes, that she might
appear taller than she was by nature. " Tell me, my
dear," said I, "should you esteem me more highly as
a sharer of your fortunes, if I told you exactly the
state of my property, or if I tried to deceive you by
exhibiting false coin, and necklaces of gilded wood,
and robes of spurious instead of genuine purple? "
She replied instantly, "Heaven forbid! Were you
such a man, I never could love you from my heart.''
" Well, then, would you like me better if I appeared
before you sound and healthy, fair and vigorous, or
with painted cheeks and artificially colored eyelids,
trying to cheat you by offering you paint instead
of myself?" " Why," she said, "I like you better
than paint; I prefer the natural color of your cheeks
to rouge, and I would rather look into your eyes
sparkling with health than with all the cosmetics
in the world." " Then I would have you to know
that I am more charmed with your native com-
plexion than with paint. These false pretences may
deceive the casual observer, but not those who live
together. They are exposed before the morning
toilette, or by perspiration, or by tears, or by the
bath."