The philosophers of antiquity had many undeniable virtues - they threw themselves into volcanos, masturbated publicly, and managed to die after covering themselves in cow dung - but enlightened in their views about women they were not.
Here Plato, by no means the worst offender, speculates that women originally came about as the reincarnation of cowardly men.
On the subject of animals, then, the following remarks may be offered. Of the men who came into the world, those who were cowards or led unrighteous lives may with reason be supposed to have changed into the nature of women in the second generation.
Still, it's good to know these attitudes changed over time. Here is Nietzsche more than 2000 years later.
What is truth to woman? From the beginning, nothing has been more alien, repugnant, and hostile to woman than truth – her great art is the lie, her highest concern is mere appearance and beauty.
(Sources: Plato - Timaeus; Nietzsche - Aphorism 232).
