The book from which this remarkable quotation is taken is a translation of Christine de Pisan's _La Cite des Dames_, which was written early in the fifteenth century. It is a capital defence against the slanderers of the gentler sex and an armory of arguments for all time against those men who declare that "women are fit for nothing but to bear children and spin." It shows conclusively that conynge--knowledge--far from tending to injure women's character--apayre theyr condycyons--as was asserted by Christine's antagonists, contributes, on the contrary, to elevate and ennoble them and to render them better mothers and more useful members of society. Notwithstanding that it was written five hundred years ago, and notwithstanding its "antiquated allegorical dress and its quaint pre-Renaissance notions of history," it is in many of its aspects a surprisingly modern production. The line of argument adopted by the writer is virtually the same as that which is adopted to-day in the discussion of the same questions which are so ably treated in this long-forgotten book[89] and show that Christine de Pisan was in every way a worthy champion of her sex. No woman of her time was more competent to discuss the capacity of her sex for science as well as for other intellectual pursuits than was this learned daughter of Italy. She was not only a woman of profound and varied knowledge, but was also, as stated in the preceding chapter, the first woman to earn her living by her pen. Besides writing _The City of Ladies_ and more verses--mostly ballads and virelays--than are contained in the _Divina Commedia_, she was also the author of many other works on the most diverse subjects. She is best known to historians as the author of _Livre des Fais et Bonnes Meurs du sage Roy Charles V_, which is a graphic account of the court and policy of this monarch, and of the _Livre des Faits d'Armes et de Chevalerie_. The latter work is not, as might be imagined from its title, a collection of tales of chivalry, but, incredible as it may seem, a profound and systematic treatise on military tactics and international law. It deals with "many topics of the highest policy, from the manners of a good general and the minutiae of siege operations to the wager of battle, safe-conducts and letters of marque," and was deemed so important by Henry VII that at his expressed desire it was translated into English and published by Caxton under the title of _The Boke of Fayettes of Armes and Chyvalrye_. Even so late as the time of Henry VIII it was regarded as an authoritative manual on the topics treated.