posted ago by AntonioOfVenice ago by AntonioOfVenice +14 / -11

The following is by Hippolytus from the eponymous play by Euripides, which reminded me of someone.

O Zeus, why did you ever set women
in our sunlit world to lead men astray
with their corrupting ways? If you wanted
to propagate a race of human beings,
you should not have done so using women.
Instead of that, men could have carried
into your holy shrines bronze or iron
or a load of gold and purchased offspring,
each man paying according to his means,
and then they could have lived in their own homes
as free men—free of women! But as it is,
when we are planning to have this evil
live with us, first of all we must produce
a bride price from the wealth of our estate.

What’s more, there is clear evidence to show
just how big a problem woman can be,
since the father who conceived and raised her
pays out a dowry and then ships her off,
in order to rid himself of trouble.
But the man who takes this toxic creature
into his home can now get his delight
embellishing his idol with ornaments
and decorating her with fancy clothes,
lovely objects for a brainless figurine.
And so the man, poor miserable wretch,
little by little wastes his family wealth.

What’s more, we should not allow a woman
to have any slaves attending on her.
Instead we should give them as companions
ferocious and inarticulate wild beasts,
so they would have no one they could talk to
and no one to respond to what they said.
As it is, women sit inside the house
and, being devious, plan nasty schemes,
which their servants then take to those outside.

A curse on all women! I shall never stop
detesting them, not even if someone
says I complain about them all the time,
for they, too, never stop—always using
any means at all for their immoral acts.
A man must either teach these women
to be virtuous or else allow me
to continue crushing them forever.