Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/383

Rh attribute of womanliness, so strength is considered the chief attribute of manliness. But what is strength and which strength is of the right kind? Here we find ourselves placed before a delicate question. It must be answered relentlessly, even if the answer should be: What is considered by most men to be manly strength is nothing but animal nature, brutality and barbarity.

As in the case of woman, so let us in the case of man begin with the physique. But the chapter on beauty I must here skip entirely, since in this respect we can count upon the indulgence of women, who are more apt to be guided in their choice by minor qualities than we. It is not empty flattery if I say of them:

 Beauty is not much to miss, Women's verdicts are not serious, One that no Thersites is, Often may cut out a Nireus.

Die Schoenheit wird nicht oft vermisst, Die Weiber sind nicht streng im Schaetzen, Und wenn du kein Thersites bist, Den Nireus kannst du leicht ersetzen.

It is, however, self-evident that we cannot look for an ideal of manliness in a crippled Liliputian, or a scrofulous weakling, but neither will Herculean limbs, a broad bull's neck, and the strong fists of a prize-fighter represent it. A vigorous, symmetrical