A to Z Challenge 2014 – X is for Xanthippe

noun

1. 1.  the wife of Socrates, proverbial as a scolding and quarrelsome woman
2. 2.  any nagging, peevish, or irritable woman

Socrates as we know was a great philosopher so one wonders why such a wise man would have chosen a quarrelsome wife or did he?  Maybe it is all a matter of perspective.

I should imagine that although there was social standing in spending your life contemplating the greater questions of life and the universe that there would not actually be a great deal of money involved in it, did she know when she pledged her troth that she was marrying a dreamer rather than someone who would bring home a steady wage?  And if his mind was wondering, contemplating life and death, was he any good around the house?  Did a request to pass the wine result in a three hour lecture about the life cycle of the grape?  Did she really nag, or was it simply that in order to get the attention of someone whose mind was otherwise occupied she had to repeatedly call to him?  And who labelled her as such?  Was it his friends when she demanded he return from debating with them to perform his husbandly duties or he when asked to turn his intellect to the mundane tasks at home?

Maybe she was guilty as charged but I have to say I think life with a philosopher could turn out to be pretty trying and frustrating and can’t help wondering if she knew what she had signed up for when she agreed to marry him.