men’s affair, men’s gift — we remained therewith “among ourselves”; and in the end, in view of all that women write about “woman,” we may well have considerable doubt as to whether woman really DESIRES enlightenment about herself — and CAN desire it. If woman does not thereby seek a new ORNAMENT for herself — I believe ornamentation belongs to the eternally feminine? — why, then, she wishes to make herself feared: perhaps she thereby wishes to get the mastery.

But she does not want truth — what does woman care for truth? From the very first, nothing is more foreign, more repugnant, or more hostile to woman than truth — her great art is falsehood, her chief concern is appearance and beauty. Let us confess it, we men: we honour and love this very art