Concerning women he is no less impartial. However he may have chosen to paint their possibilities of heroism, and the force of their character in hours of passion or of need, no poet has certainly abused them in stronger terms. The following is an almost laughable example:
δεινὴ μὲν ἀλκὴ κυμάτων θαλασσίων
δειναὶ δὲ ποταμοῦ καὶ πυρὸς θερμοῦ πνόαι
δεινὸν δὲ πενία δεινὰ δ' ἄλλα μύρια·
ἀλλ' οὐδὲν οὕτω δεινὸν ὡς γυνὴ κακὸν
οὐδ' ἂν γένοιτο γράμμα τοιοῦτ' ἐν γραφῇ
οὐδ' ἂν λόγος δείξειεν· εἰ δέ του θεῶν
τόδ' ἐστι πλάσμα δημιουργὸς ὢν κακῶν
μέγιστος ἴστω καὶ βροτοῖσι δυσμενής.[46]
Nor can the group which I have classed together in the following extracts be considered as complimentary:
πλὴν τῆς τεκούσης θῆλυ πᾶν μισῶ γένος.
ἔνδον μένουσαν τὴν γυναῖκ' εἶναι χρεὼν
ἐσθλὴν θύρασι δ' ἀξίαν τοῦ μηδενός.
ἔστιν δὲ μήτηρ φιλότεκνος μᾶλλον πατρός·
ἡ μὲν γὰρ αὑτῆς οἶδεν ὄνθ' ὁ δ' οἴεται.
οὐκ ἔστιν οὔτε τεῖχος οὔτε χρήματα.
οὔτ' ἄλλο δυσφύλακτον οὐδὲν ὡς γυνή.
ἀντὶ γὰρ πυρὸς
πῦρ ἄλλο μεῖζον ἠδὲ δυσμαχώτερον
ἔβλαστον αἱ γυναῖκες.
γαμεῖτε νῦν γαμεῖτε κᾆτα θνήσκετε
ἢ φαρμάκοισιν ἐκ γυναικὸς ἢ δόλοις.[47]
On marriage many pithy sayings might be cited. The one I take first is eminent for practical brutality combined with sound sense: