Passage 1
Well, wife, because we know what has been assigned to each of us by the god, we must each try to perform our respective duties as well as possible. The law encourages this, for it yokes together husband and wife, and just as the god made them partners in children, so the law has appointed them partners in the estate. And the law declares honourable those duties for which the god has made each of them more naturally capable. For the woman it is more honourable to remain indoors than to be outside; for the man it is more disgraceful to remain indoors than to attend to business outside. If someone behaves in a way contrary to the nature the god has given him, perhaps his disobedience will not escape the notice of the gods, and he will pay a penalty for neglecting his proper business or for performing his wife's work. . . [Y]ou will have to stay indoors and send forth the group of slaves whose work is outdoors, and personally supervise those whose work is indoors. Moreover, you must receive what is brought inside and dispense as much as should be spent. And you must plan ahead and guard whatever must remain in reserve, so that the provisions stored up for a year are not spent in a month. And when wool is brought in to you, you must see that clothes are produced for those who need them. And you· must also be concerned that the dry grain is in good condition for eating. However, one of your proper concerns, perhaps, may seem to you rather thankless: you will certainly have to be concerned about nursing any of the slaves who becomes ill. . . . [Y]our other special concerns turn out to be pleasant: whenever you take a slave who has no knowledge of spinning, and teach her that skill so that you double her value to you: and whenever you take one who does not know how to manage a house or serve, and turn her into one who is a skilled and faithful servant and make her invaluable; and whenever it is in your power to reward the helpful and reasonable members of your household and to punish any of them who appears to be vicious. But the sweetest experience of all will be this: if you prove to be better than I am and make me your servant. Then you will have no need to fear that as your years increase you will be less honoured in the household; but you may be confident that when you become older, the better partner you have been to me, and the better guardian of the estate for the children, the greater the respect you will enjoy in the household. For it is not because of youthful grace that beautiful and good things increase for human beings, but rather because of their virtues.