MENANDER.
Adelphi 1. The happiness of never marrying. (Adapted by Terence in his Adelphi.)
Andria 1. Love makes blind. (Adapted by Terence in his Andria.)
Androgynus 2. An allusion to a wedding ceremony.
Anepsii 1. Love is, by nature, deaf to advice.
2. A daughter is a troublesome thing.
Aphrodisia 1. Love makes fools of men.
2. A girl, while delirious, lets out unfortunate secrets.
Arrephorus 1. The dangers of marriage.
3. A talkative woman.
Carchedonius. (Adapted by Plautus in his Poenulus?)
Chalceia 3. Youth is the time for love.
Colax 4. A list of various well-known Hetaerae. (Adapted by Terence in his Eunuchus.)
Cybernetae 2. The man who is counted lucky in public, but tyrannised over at home.
Dactylius 1. The obstinate father who refuses his daughter.
2. A bridegroom who wants no dowry. (For the plot cp. Ter. Hecyra.)
Didymae 1. The Cynic Crates’ wife. (Cp. Apul. Florid. xiv.)
Empipramene 1. Invective against marriage.
4. A father’s joy (at the recognition of his daughter?).
Epitrepontes. (Similar in plot to the Hecyra of Terence.)
Eunuchus 7. The violent joy of the successful lover in Ter. And. v. 5, 3, is translated literally from this play. (Adapted by Terence in his Eunuchus.)
Georgus 6. The unpractical lover.
Halieis 6. A daughter is an awkward thing.
10. The flight of the adulterer.
Heauton Timorumenus 3. The respectable girl’s home. (Adapted by Terence in his Heauton Timorumenus.)
Heros 1. Love is omnipotent.
Hiereia 2. A respectable woman should not leave the house. (The plot deals with a married woman who follows the priests of Cybele about the streets.)
Hypobolimaeus 4. The husband should rule the wife.
8. μέγιστον θηρίον γυνή.
Leucadia 1. Sappho’s leap.
Misogynes 1. The advantages of a wife.
2, 3, 4, 5. The expense of keeping a wife.
4, 5. A woman’s superstitions.
9. The husband seeks refuge with an Hetaera. (The plot is concerned with a man who marries a woman, and then conceives a most violent hatred for her.)
Misumenus 3. The slavery of love.
5. Platonic love.
6. The lover’s misery.
7. The lover in his lady’s absence.
8. An unsympathetic listener.
10. The lover cannot sleep.
12. Jealousy.
(The plot deals with a Miles Gloriosus, who is in love with a slave girl of his, but will not touch her because she does not love him.)
Nauclerus 4. A lover is always easily led.
Olynthia 4. Artificial hair.
Orge 5. An adulterer is an expensive luxury.
Paedion 2. A man who goes round offering amulets to men when they get married.
Periceiromene. (The soldier who, in a fit of jealousy, cuts off the hair of his slave girl, and afterwards repents.)
Perinthia. (Adapted by Terence in his Andria, especially for the first scene.)
Plocion 1. The rich, ugly, and jealous wife.
2. The disagreeableness of the same.
3. The results of a κωμικὴ παννυχίς.
4. The trouble that they bring on a house.
Sicyonius. (The soldier who buys a girl, and then treats her as if she were a free woman.)
Synaristosae 1, 2. The strange behaviour of some women (Hetaerae?) at dinner.
4. Love makes one perjure oneself.
Thais 1. The ideal Hetaera, faithful to none.
Thesaurus 1. Love is a severe god, especially to the old.
2. Music is the food of love.
3. The lover must be bold.
(In order to estimate at its true value the prominence of misogyny in the following passages, it is well to remember that a large proportion of the Fragmenta Incerta of Menander are found in Christian collections of apophthegms.)
Incert. 1. If you have once married, then you must put up with it.
3. A man ought to be allowed the chance of getting to know his wife before marriage; for every woman is an evil, but then one could choose the least. (Cp. 102.)
6. Invective against Prometheus for creating women.
7. The sudden effects of a kiss.
8. The polygamous habits of the Thracians.
14. Of the nature of love.
16. Women are afraid of death, and seek comfort for trouble in tears.
27. Women have no gratitude.
32. A girl’s wooing. (Transl. in Plaut. Cist. i. 1, 91.)
36. The advantages of a πόρνη over a respectable woman.
πλείονα κακουργεῖ, πλείον’ οἶδ’, αἰσχύνεται
οὐδέν, κολακεύει μᾶλλον.
54, 55, 57. One should not marry money.
58. The man who contemplates marriage must consider whether he prefers beauty or worth.
73. A man stands up for his wife.
99. Virtue doubles the value of beauty.
100. A woman must try to lead her husband, not drive him.
101. None are so closely related as man and wife.
102. A man who marries, may count it as a great good if his wife is only a slight evil.
103. The troubles of a family man.
104. Advice against marriage.
105. Marriage is a necessary evil.
106. A woman’s fair words are most to be feared. (Cp. 197.)
107. An Hetaera cannot be expected to be good, for she makes her living out of mischief.
112. A mother loves her children more than a father.
114. The unmarried daughter in the house.
117. A lover’s threats are not serious.
133. A respectable woman does not dye her hair.
154. Educating a woman is like giving poison to a viper.
155. The dangers of beauty.
156. Your wife will be nasty without being taught.
185. A bit of the marriage ceremony.
196. Love cannot be controlled by reason.
198. Women are consistent liars.
199. Night is the time for love.
241. An Hetaera’s dress.
256. One must not trust a woman.
258. It is safer to stir up a dog than an old woman.
259. Women are irritable. (Cp. 499.)
294. The behaviour of a low woman.
346. Stupid women.
469. An oath to a woman is not binding.
I have added an analysis of the Gnomae Monostichi, for the sake of completeness. No one will, of course, attach any importance to the views expressed in this nondescript collection. [Cp. Kock, Com. Att. Fr. vol. iii. praef.]
56. The happiness of being unmarried. (Cp. 78, 437, 468, 595.)
77. The expensiveness of wives.
83. Women are the better for being silent.
84. The ideal woman is the good housekeeper.
85. A woman may save or ruin a house.
86. Do not trust a woman. (Cp. 633.)
87. Women consider nothing but their own wishes.
90. There is nothing so wretched as an old man in love.
91. The man who wants to marry changes his mind.
92. Virtue, not gold, adorns a woman.
93. A good wife saves a man’s position.
94. It is not easy to find a good woman.
95. It is better to bury a woman than to marry her.
97. A wife is an expensive luxury.
98. Marry your wife, not her money.
99. A good wife is the helm of a household.
100. A woman cannot rule; it is against nature.
102. Marriage is an evil men bring on themselves.
103. When about to marry you should consider your neighbours.
106. Women are bad counsellors.
109. All women are alike.
134. Woman is the source of every ill. (Cp. 541, 623.)
156. Love cannot withstand poverty. (Cp. 159.)
160. Some women are virtuous.
161. Women are faithless. (Cp. 560.)
181. Women are a cause of ruin.
195. A woman’s jealousy.
197. A married man is a slave.
199. Try and get a woman as your ally.
211. Don’t marry mere money.
215. A man must rule his wife.
231. Women are as dangerous as sea and fire.
233. A bad woman is a treasure-house of evil.
248. Women are fiercer than beasts.
260. A woman should stay at home.
261. A bad woman is like poison.
264. Woman is like the sea.
267. Woman is as fierce as a lioness.
304. Woman is a necessary evil.
324. A wife is a constant cause of grief.
327. A woman is worse to live with than a lion.
333. A woman’s virtue is worth more than her beauty.
334. A woman is full of evil.
353. Never abuse or advise a woman.
355. Never let a woman into your counsels.
361. Never waste anything good on a woman.
382. Marriage is slavery.
410. A lover’s anger is short-lived.
413. There is nothing worse than a pretty woman.
426. A harlot’s weeping is like a lawyer’s.
469. A woman is dirt silvered over.
493. Woman is a pleasant ill.
540. A bad woman is like a storm in the house.
575. A woman is like a fire.
600. Women flatter with an object.
634. The value of a good wife. (Cp. 675.)
684. May my friends never marry.
700. Women ruin many men.
734. Pretty women are conceited.
735. Your wife is worth taking trouble for.
750. A daughter is hard to dispose of.
757. A poor man should not marry.