Скачать или смотреть The grey mare is the better horse

Many depictions of Xanthippe, the shrewish wife of the philosopher Socrates, mar her name as a term synonymous with a nagging and scolding woman. In Xenophon's Symposium, Socrates agrees that she is "the hardest to get along with of all the women there are." And yet, Socrates admits that he chose her as his abiding spouse precisely because of her argumentative spirit:
"It is the example of the rider who wishes to become an expert horseman: "None of your soft-mouthed, docile animals for me," he says; "the horse for me to own must show some spirit" in the belief, no doubt, if he can manage such an animal, it will be easy enough to deal with every other horse besides. And that is just my case. I wish to deal with human beings, to associate with man in general; hence my choice of wife. I know full well, if I can tolerate her spirit, I can with ease attach myself to every human being else."
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'The grey mare is a better horse," is a proverb meaning the wife rules, or is more competent than, the husband. The 'grey mare' can be used allusively for a woman who is the dominant partner in the marriage.
"Here were we fallen in a grete questyon of the law, whyther the gray mare be the better horse.. or whither he haue a wyse face or not that loketh as lyke a foole as an ewe loketh lyke a shepe."
-- More's Dialogue of Images III. v.
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