by M. Mohankumar
Stone mason turned into philosopher,
he once said, ‘I know I know nothing.’
The oracle declared him the wisest man
of his time; but he didn’t accept this
verdict till he met other wise men −
and was convinced. ‘Marry or not marry,’
he said, ’in any case, you will regret it.’
And so he’d as well marry—and marry
a woman who would “show some spirit”,
arguing that life with a nagging wife
would toughen him to endure the insults
and injustices of the world, and make him
a better philosopher. Marriage was to him
an aid to philosophy. Xanthippe showed
more than “some spirit”. Once she poured
a kettle of hot water on his head, scalding
half his face. ‘Why not throw her out?’
Alcibiades asked him. ‘She’s taught me,’
he said, ‘a thousand things. She may be
crude, but then I wouldn’t have learned
otherwise.’ Another time − so the story goes −
she emptied a chamber pot over him.
‘After thunder comes the rain,’ he said.
