As special mention is made of a woman who “did not cease to live a prostitute when she began to learn philosophy,”[251] we may reasonably infer that it was usual for these women to abandon the calling to which they had been born and bred, so soon as from such teachers as Aspasia and Hipparchia they began to imbibe principles of self-respect and womanly independence. [251] _Ibid._, book xiii. From the position occupied by the hetairai it is evident that by the philosophers of Greece, they were regarded with that respect which is ever due to cultured womanhood; indeed, from the evidence at hand we may believe that they were the most highly honoured citizens in Athens. All women in Greece who prostituted themselves were forbidden to take sacred names; yet of Nemeas, Athenæus says: “And we may wonder how it was that the Athenians permitted a courtesan to have such a name, which was that of a most honourable and solemn festival.”[252] [252] _Ibid._, book xiii. Of Glycera it is related that Harpalus issued an edict that no one should present him with a crown, unless the donor at the same time presented one to her. He erected a statue to her and permitted her to dwell in the palace of Tarsus where he allowed her “to receive adoration from the people”; he permitted her also to bear the title of Queen, and “to be complimented with other presents which are only fit for your own mother and your own wife.”[253] [253] _Athenæus_, book xiii. Timotheus, who was a general of very high repute in the Athenian army, was the son of a courtesan; we are informed, however, that she was “a courtesan of very excellent character.”[254] The great Themistocles is said to have been the son of Abrotonum, a “courtesan.” [254] _Ibid._, book xiii. It is recorded that in response to an order issued by the people, Praxiteles made a solid gold statue of one of the hetairai, which was consecrated in the temple of Delphi. Certainly the deathless models of Greek art formed by Praxiteles and Phidias are not representations of coarse and sensualized womanhood. That these women were a power in Athens during the Periclean age may not, in view of the facts recorded in relation to them, be disputed. Of them it has been said: None but they could gather round them of an evening the choicest spirits of the day, and elicit, in the freedom of unrestrained intercourse, wit and wisdom, flashing fancy and burning eloquence. What wonder that the hetairai should have filled so prominent a part in Greek society! And how small a compensation to virtuous women to know their rivals could not stand at the altar when sacrifice was offered, could not give birth to a citizen.