But by consecrating herself to charity she probably accomplished far more for humanity and for the well-being of her sex than if she had elected to continue her work in the higher mathematics. There had been many learned women in Italy before her time and many since; many who were distinguished as Hellenists, as Latinists, as polyglots, as mathematicians--women like the Roccati, the Borghini, the Brassi, the Ardinghelli, the Barbapiccola, the Caminer Turra, the Tambroni; but Maria Gaetana Agnesi surpasses them all, not only in knowledge, but as a potent influence for the diffusion of culture and the spirit of brotherhood, for the expansion of benevolence and charity, and, above all, for the elevation of woman. She was also, as her latest and best biographer beautifully expresses it, "an inspired _condottiera_ who, in the field of civility, anticipated the conquests of these latter days." She was, indeed, as her epitaph informs us, _pietate_, _doctrina_, _beneficentia insignis_, and as such she will live in the memory of our race as long as men shall admire genius and love virtue. In the year following the publication of Agnesi's _Instituzioni Analitiche_ was recorded the premature and tragic death of the distinguished French mathematician, the Marquise Emilie du Chatelet. She has been described as a "thinker and scientist, precieuse and pedant, but not the less a coquette--in short, a woman of contradictions."[121] To most readers she is better known by reason of her liaison with Voltaire, of whom she is regarded as a mere satellite, than for her work in science. But she was far more than a satellite that shone by the light received from the sage of Ferney. For there can be no doubt that she was a highly gifted woman who, besides having a thorough knowledge of several languages, including Latin, possessed a special talent for mathematics. It was said of her that "she read Virgil, Pope and algebra as others read novels," and that she was able "to multiply nine figures by nine others in her head." No less an authority than the illustrious Ampere declared her to be "a genius in geometry." Among her teachers in mathematics were Clairaut, Koenig, Maupertuis, Pere Jaquier and Jean Bernouilli, the immediate predecessors of such distinguished mathematicians as Monge, Lagrange, d'Alembert and Laplace. At her Chateau of Cirey, where she and Voltaire spent many years together, she was visited by learned men from various parts of Europe. Among these was the Italian scholar, Francisco Algarotti, who was the author of a work entitled _Newtonism for Women_. And as Mme. du Chatelet was an ardent admirer of Newton, the author of the _Principia_ soon became a strong bond of union between her and the brilliant Italian. She called the savants who frequented her chateau at Cirey the _Emiliens_ and purposed writing memoirs to be entitled _Emiliana_--a design, however, which she was never able to execute.