The Book of the City of Ladies Book 1, Chapters 41-45 Summary

  • In Chapter 41, Lady Reason gives three more examples of women who used their knowledge to do great things, like paint beautiful pictures.
  • The next example Lady Reason provides for the wisdom of women is Sempronia the Roman, who had the best memory of anyone in her time. There was nothing she read that she couldn't repeat word for word when called to do so.
  • After she has heard many stories about wise women who have improved the world, Christine asks Lady Reason whether it's better to have lots of natural good sense or to have lots of education to improve yourself. Lady Reason says that this actually depends on the individual person. Some people benefit more from education and some less.
  • With all that said, Lady Reason turns to the story of King Solomon from the Bible to make another point.
  • Even though she has promised to talk about Solomon, Lady Reason spends this chapter summarizing how good a man's life can be if he treats his wife with respect, educates her, and listens to her wise judgments. It turns out that she actually is drawing from the Solomon story, though, because all the nice things she says about women here come directly from the Book of Proverbs.
  • In Chapter 45, she tells the story of a woman named Gaia who worked so hard around her house that she became a model for diligent women everywhere.