This is a follow-up to an earlier post on the same topic
Schol. D + bT ad Il. 4.20
“They were muttering”: they were complaining about something with mumbling lips. This is clearly also a feminine gesture character-wise. It also is fitting, but rage compels her to words too.”
| ex. ἐπέμυξαν: μεμυκόσι τοῖς χείλεσιν ἐπεμύχθησαν. ἠθικῶς δὲ καὶ τὸ γυναικεῖον τῷ σχήματι ἐμφαίνει, ὅπως γνώμης ἔχουσιν. καὶ ἤρκει μὲν τοῦτο, ἡ δὲ ὀργὴ καὶ ἐπὶ λόγους αὐτὴν ἄγει.
Homer, Iliad, 24.292 [Hecuba speaking to Priam]
“Ask him for a bird omen as a swift messenger…”
αἴτει δ᾽ οἰωνὸν ταχὺν ἄγγελον
Schol. bT ad Il. 24.292 ex
“Ask for a bird omen”: it is a womanly custom to seek refuge in divination anytime there might be something to fear.”
<αἴτει δ’ οἰωνόν:> γυναικεῖον τὸ ἦθος τὸ ἐπὶ μαντείας καταφεύγειν, εἴ τί που περίφοβον σχοῖεν. b(BCE3E4)T
Od. 1.414-416
“I do not trust any message still, wherever it comes from,
I do not trust soothsaying, whatever divination
My mother elicits when she calls prophets to our home.”
οὔτ᾽ οὖν ἀγγελίῃ ἔτι πείθομαι, εἴ ποθεν ἔλθοι,
οὔτε θεοπροπίης ἐμπάζομαι, ἥν τινα μήτηρ
ἐς μέγαρον καλέσασα θεοπρόπον ἐξερέηται.
Cf. Schol. EQS Ad Hom. Od. 1.415
“He is deprecating because it is womanly to trust in these sorts of prophecies.”
ἐξεφαύλισεν ὡς γυναικεῖον ὂν ταῖς τοιαύταις μαντείαις πιστεύειν.
Schol. T Ad Hom. Od. 7.238 [On Arete recognizing Odysseus’ clothes]
“It seems to some a minor and humble matter that Arete first inquires from the stranger about the vestments. But it must be said that it has proceeded in this way for many reasons. First, it is seemly that it is the woman who recognizes the clothes. For it is the work of a womanly nature to weave, and tend, and handle these sorts of things.”
δοκεῖ τισὶ μικροπρεπὲς καὶ ταπεινὸν τὸ τὴν ᾿Αρήτην παρὰ τοῦ ξένου πρῶτον περὶ τῆς ἐσθῆτος πυνθάνεσθαι. ῥητέον δὲ ὅτι πολλῶν ἕνεκα ἐντεῦθεν ἤρξατο. πρῶτον μὲν ἐπιγνῶναι τὴν γυναῖκα τὰ ἱμάτια εἰκὸς ἦν πρώτην· καὶ γὰρ ὑφαίνειν καὶ θεραπεύειν καὶ διαχειρίζειν τὰ τοιαῦτα τῆς γυναικείας φύσεως ἔργον.
[N.B. this scholion is excerpted from something that had a multi-part argument, as is clear from the πολλῶν ἕνεκα and the structural πρῶτον μὲν.]
So asking for the opinions of the Gods is womanly? Well, slap my ass and send me to the kitchen! Maybe this is why women tend to be smarter?