Woman and man in balance

Meaning

The woman and man in Part II: matter and the work · unit 20 belong to a parable about the relation of the work's active participants. The woman must not dominate the man, and the man must not become too violent toward the woman. The paired prohibitions matter: quoting only the first would turn a reciprocal restriction into a one-sided rule. The English preserves both. The paragraph places the image beside the relation of mercurial water or wisdom-fire to common fire and the warning against material rising away. It is an analogy of balanced operation, not a general social doctrine or an instruction about actual partners.