Musonius Rufus on Equality
"Not only men, but women also, should study philosophy." — Musonius Rufus put it in plain Greek, and in imperial Rome, it was almost an act of rebellion.
Charles Le Brun — "The Jabach Family" (ca. 1660), public domain
A classroom without barriers.
Musonius Rufus, as preserved in his Discourses (Lecture III), declares: «ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναῖκας φιλοσοφεῖν δεῖ, ὥσπερ καὶ ἄνδρας» — "Not only men, but women also, should study philosophy." He wasn't after shock value. He believed virtue had no gender.
Stoic equality in action.
For Musonius, reason is not locked behind gender. He trained his own daughters as rigorously as any son. Philosophy, he argued, shapes the soul—and the soul has no sex.
The Stoic who defied tradition.
Musonius Rufus taught in public, to anyone willing to sweat for wisdom. Senators mocked him, but he didn't flinch. Centuries later, his lesson lands: wisdom doesn't care if you wear a toga or a veil.
Musonius Rufus made no distinction in the mind’s capacity for reason. When he taught daughters and sons side by side, Rome called it madness—he called it justice.
