The Value of a Woman's Mind: The Case of Calpurnia

When Julius Caesar's wife, Calpurnia, warns him to not go off to work at the Senate one day he does what many men do when advised by their wives about something they think their wives know nothing about. He blew it off. He went to work that day and, as you probably all know, was murdered on the steps of the Roman Senate by a band of conspirators who included his friends, Marc Antony and Brutus.

Calpurnia had had a dream. She understood the images in it as foretelling a bloody death to her husband. Caesar, being the egomaniacal pragmatist that so many political leaders were and are still to this day, saw no value in dreams or the interpretation of their images. More importantly, he lacked confidence in the powerful intuition that his wife possessed. His 'manliness' was but one of his hammartium (tragic flaws) which also included the predominant flaw in all tragic downfalls, both ancient and modern, of hubris (excessive pride.)

Not listening to your wife can be a rather serious mistake!

Julius Caesar is not the only example of the costs involved in belittling, undervaluing or in any other way making light of the things a woman can know and the ways in which she can know them.

I grew up on the television of the 1950s. In "Father Knows Best" (starring, in case you have forgotten or were not born in time to witness this early light sitcom for yourself, Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue, Loren Chapin and Billy Gray ) the essential joke was the title of the show. The character played by the actor who would later become Marcus Welby,MD, NEVER knew best! Poor Jim Anderson. Without the knowing council of his wife, Margaret, he would have been hopelessly and endlessly befuddled. Being the best possible TV wife of the 1950s, Margaret always let her husband think that he had figured things out. So far as I recall, he never did.

I suspect that more men than might easily admit it owe their successes and quality of life to having somehow chanced into a relationship with the right woman. This is certainly my own experience.