In ancient unsophisticated days
Women were valued for their cloistered ways.
And won at Rome encouragement from man
Only because they stayed at home and span;
While Pericles in Attic Greek expressed
The view that those least talked about were best.
There were exceptions, but the normal Greek
Regarded Sappho as a dangerous freak,
And Clytemnestra for three thousand years
Was pelted with unmitigated sneers,