A few men had the courage to bring their wives, and Aspasia talked to them of their duties and the need of cultivating their minds. Nor did she forget the value of manners and the graces. It is said that she wrote a book on cosmetics; but all her teaching, so far as we know it, went to show that personal charm lay not so much in physical beauty as in the culture of the intellect. The few direct words we have from her lips prove that, with a clear sense of values, she was the true child of an age and race that was singularly devoid of sentiment. If she taught Socrates in some things, she was evidently his pupil in others. This is curiously illustrated in an anecdote related by Æschines. “Tell me,” says Aspasia, one day, to the wife of Xenophon, “if your neighbor had finer gold than you have, whether you would prefer her gold or your own.” “I should prefer hers,” was the reply. “Suppose that she had dresses and ornaments of more value than yours; would you prefer your own or hers?” “Hers, to be sure.” “If she had a better husband than you have, which would you choose?” The lady blushed and was silent. The hostess then turned to the husband with like questions. “I ask you, O Xenophon, whether, if your neighbor had a better horse than yours, you would prefer your own or his.” “Certainly his,” was the prompt answer. “If he had a better farm than yours, which would you wish to own?” “Beyond doubt, that which is best.” “Suppose that he had a better wife than you have, would you prefer his wife?” The conversation became embarrassing, and Xenophon was discreetly silent. The conclusion was obvious. This too logical questioner advised those present to order their lives so that there should be no more admirable woman or more excellent man; then each would always prefer the other to any one else--a piece of wise counsel that might be profitably considered, in spite of its veiled sophistry. Evidently she did not regard love as a flame that burns without fuel, though in her notions of human perfectibility she makes small account of the quality of the material.