In the document "The Education of a Wife," the economy is analyzed, and by economy is meant the successful management of a household in all of its aspects. This document therefore says much about daily life in the fourth century BC. The text is from the Oeconomicus of Xenephon and makes use of the Socratic dialogue, as did Plato.
The Socratic dialogue as depicted hee always suggests a streetcorner discussion between the philosopher and a group of followers, creating an image of Athens and so of a settled social order.
Part of that social order is the domestic household. Running the household is the purview of the wife, and the male, Ischomachus, here says he does not have to stay home because his wife is perfectly capable of taking care of the home. She is capable because she was trained to be so, and this is emphasized as Socrates asks if Ischomachus trained his wife. Ischomachus says he had to do so, for when she came to him, she was only fifteen. Ischomachus says that the most important things a woman should learn, "the soundest education," would be the control of appetite and self-indulgence.
This society is one with a clear division of labor for men and women. The husband is generally older and must teach the wife what she needs to know in order to run the household, or she must learn what she can on the job. A description of what marriage should be is implied by what Ischomachus says to his wife. The wife is raised by her parents and is then entrusted to the care of the husband by them. Marriage is arranged by the parents, and their purpose in doing so is to find the best partner for the wife, someone who can care for her and protect her. This is the role of parents, and Ischomachus says that if he and his wife have children, they will also consult together on how to raise those children and on how to see to it that they find mates best suited to them.
The wife has therefore been selected because Ischo...