"Marriage, if truth be told (of this be sure),
An evil is--but one we must endure."
Yet the poet was also appreciative of the good qualities in woman, as is seen in the sentiment: "A good woman is the rudder of her household;" with which we may compare the words of another poet:
"A sympathetic wife is man's chiefest treasure;"
and at times Menander notes how even a woman of serious faults may prove to be the greatest blessing:
"How burdensome a wife extravagant;
Not as he would may he who's ta'en her live.
Yet this of good she has: she bears him children;
She watches o'er his couch, if he be sick,
With tender care; she's ever by his side