- Now it's time to hear about Isis, a woman of such great knowledge that she became queen of Egypt and was later promoted to the status of goddess after her death. Not a lot of people get promoted beyond queen, you know. But hey, the woman apparently invented gardening and planting. But then again, didn't Pizan just say in an earlier chapter that another woman invented that stuff?
- Don't question it; just roll with it.
- Christine de Pizan finally jumps back in and tells Lady Reason that she now understands how much good has come into the world because of women's education.
- Lady Reason recaps her stories of women who have used knowledge to improve the world in dozens of different ways. In fact, civilization as we know it wouldn't exist without knowledgeable women.
- Clearly, any man who says that women shouldn't be educated is completely ungrateful for all of the comforts he enjoys as a member of society and civilization.
- And guess what? A woman invented the idea of dividing an army into different types of groups like infantry, cavalry, and whatever other groups there are.
- Lady Reason concludes by saying that learned women have done more good for the world than learned men. By now, we've probably gotten Pizan's point. But Lady Reason decides to give us more examples of wise women anyway.
- Lady Reason tells Christine all about Arachne, the woman who first invented how to spin wool and make tapestries, carpets, and all kinds of other things from it.
- Now there are some men in the world who think that humanity would be better off if civilization were never created to begin with. But Lady Reason says that modern comforts are good because the more a person enjoys them, the more responsibility they have to serve God out of gratitude.
- In Chapter 40, Lady Reason talks about Pamphile, the woman who invented the technique for removing silk from worms and dyeing the silk to make colored cloth. People today might ask "So what?" but this technique was responsible for a huge percentage of the clothing people wore in Christine de Pizan's time.