Euripides, fr. 137 (Andromeda)
“Best of all riches is to find a noble spouse.”
τῶν γὰρ πλούτων ὅδ’ ἄριστος
γενναῖον λέχος εὑρεῖν.
This might be one of the few positive comments about marriage from Classical Greece. But, then again, it comes from a woman in a play about a girl rescued from a sea monster…And the positive comment is really about class…
The following is much more typical:
Euripides, fr. 78 (Alcmeon)
“A wife brings her husband
The greatest aid and the greatest
Sickness.”
γυναῖκα καὶ ὠφελίαν
καὶ νόσον ἀνδρὶ φέρειν
μεγίσταν….
Every sickness contains its own cure?
This reminds me of Medea’s rather jaundiced view of marriage.
πάντων δ᾽ ὅσ᾽ ἔστ᾽ ἔμψυχα καὶ γνώμην ἔχει
γυναῖκές ἐσμεν ἀθλιώτατον φυτόν:
ἃς πρῶτα μὲν δεῖ χρημάτων ὑπερβολῇ
πόσιν πρίασθαι, δεσπότην τε σώματος
[λαβεῖν: κακοῦ γὰρ τοῦτ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἄλγιον κακόν].
Of all creatures that have breath and sensation, we women are the most unfortunate. First at an exorbitant price we must buy a husband and master of our bodies. [This misfortune is more painful than misfortune.]
Euripides Med. 230
Great addition. I haven’t looked at Medea in a while. Euripides is eminently quotable, it seems.