[Footnote 136: Aristotel. Politic. ii. 9, p. 1269, b. 12. [Greek: E)/ti d' ê( peri\ ta\s gunai=kas a)/nesis kai\ pro\s tê\n proai/resin tê=s politei/as blabera\ kai\ pro\s eu)daimoni/an po/leôs . . . Ô(st' e)n o(/sais politei/ais phau/lôs e)/chei to\ peri\ ta\s gunai=kas, to\ ê(/misu tê=s po/leôs ei)=nai dei= nomi/zein a)nomothe/têton. O(/per e)kei=] (at Sparta) [Greek: sumbe/bêken; o(/lên ga\r tê\n po/lin o( nomothe/tês** ei)=nai boulo/menos karterikê/n, kata\ me\n tou\s a)/ndras phanero/s e)sti toiou=tos ô)/n, e)pi\ de\ tô=n gunaikô=n e)xême/lêken], &c. . . . [Greek: Ta\ de\ peri\ ta\s gunai=kas e)/chonta mê\ kalô=s e)/oiken ou) mo/non a)pre/peia/n tina poiei=n tê=s po/leôs au)tê=s kath' au(tê/n, a)lla\ sumba/llesthai/ ti pro\s tê\n philochrêmati/an.] Plato has a similar remark, Legg. vi. pp. 780-781.] [Footnote 137: Stallbaum (in his note on Plato, Legg. i. p. 637 C, [Greek: tê\n tô=n gunaikô=n par' u(mi=n a)/nesin]) observes--"Lacænarum licentiam, quum ex aliis institutis patriis, tum ex gymnicarum exercitationum usu repetendam, Plato carpit etiam infrà," &c. This is a mistake. Plato does not blame the gymnastic exercises of the Spartan maidens: the four passages to which Stallbaum refers do not prove his assertion. They even countenance the reverse of that assertion. Plato approves of gymnastic and military exercises for maidens in the Laws, and for all the female Guardians in the Republic. Stallbaum also refers to Aristotle as disapproving the gymnastic exercises of the Spartan maidens. I cannot think that this is correct. Aristotle does indeed blame the arrangements for women at Sparta, but not, as I understand him, because the women were subjected to gymnastic exercise; his blame is founded on the circumstance that the women were not regulated, but left to do as they pleased, while the men were under the strictest drill. This I conceive to be the meaning of [Greek: gunaikô=n a)/nesis]. Euripides indeed has a very bitter passage condemning the exercises of the Spartan maidens; but neither Plato nor Aristotle shared this view. Respecting the Spartan maidens and their exercises, see Xenophon, Republ. Laced. i. 4; Plutarch, Lykurg. c. 14.] [Footnote 138: Aristotel. Politic. vii. 16, p. 1335, b. 8. [Greek: Peponême/nên me\n ou)=n e)/chein dei= tê\n e(/xin, peponême/nên de\ po/nois mê\ biai/ois, mêde\ pro\s e(/na mo/non, ô(/sper ê( tô=n a)thlêtô=n e(/xis, a)lla\ pro\s ta\s tô=n e)leutheri/ôn pra/xeis. O(moi/ôs de\ dei= tau=ta u(pa/rchein a)ndra/si kai\ gunaixi/.] Compare also i. 8, near the end of the first book.] [Footnote 139: Aristotel. Politic. vii. 16, p. 1335, a. 20, b. 15.] In principle, therefore, Aristotle agrees with Plato,[140] as to the propriety of comprehending women as well as men under public training and discipline: but he does not follow out the principle with the same consistency. He maintains the Platonic Commonwealth to be impossible.[141]