Section 5, I/37-I/48 Summary and Analysis

In "About all the great good that these ladies have brought into the world," Christine asks about men saying that women know nothing, and Reason calls such men full of ingratitude; God gives women the capacity to grasp knowledge and to invent new knowledge. "More on the same topic" contains Christine's questions about knights failing in their duty by slandering women. "About the maiden Arachne, who invented the arts of dyeing wool and of weaving fine tapestries, as well as the art of growing flax and making it into cloth" tells about Arachne inventing the use of flax, hemp, nets, traps, snares, the art of fishing and the art of trapping wild animals. Boccaccio praises Arachne. Reason says that God bestows gifts upon mankind, but it is mankind's fault if the gifts are misused. In "About Pamphile...