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.