Aspasia

a celebrated Grecian, belonging to a family of some note in Miletus, and was early distinguished for her graces of mind and person. She went to Athens after the Persian War, and, by her beauty and accomplishments soon attracted the attention of the leading men of that city. She engaged the affections of Pericles, who is said to have divorced his former wife in order to marry her. Their union was harmonious throughout; he preserved for her to the end of his life the same tenderne ; she re* mained the confidant of the statesman’s schemes, and the sharer of his struggles. She survived Pericles some years, and is reported to have married an obscure A then i an, Lysicles, whom she raised by her example and precept to be one of the leaders of the republic.