270

Incertarum fabularum fragmenta (fr. 53)

it is easier to have 11, which contains τις, precede it. Second, in 4-8, which
discuss the relative merits of a wealthy and a poor wife, the seemingly more
desirable rich wife is first presented, and when she shown to be undesirable in
reality, the seemingly undesirable poor wife is introduced; transposing 9-10
and 11-12 creates a similar structure. Hense found some support for his trans-
position in the proverb αν μέν καλήν (sc. γήμης), έξεις κοινήν, αν δέ αίσχράν,
έξεις ποινήν (see ad loc.), but the word order of the proverb is not fixed and in
any case bears no relation to the text other than drawing on a similar stock of
popular wisdom. If the transposition were to be accepted, the manuscript error
would be an obvious case of homoioarche (άλλ’ έλαβεν) causing the omission
of 9-10, which were then written in the margin and afterwards inserted in the
wrong place, when the manuscript was copied again.
Interpretation Assertions that women are a bane to men are common, espe-
cially in archaic poetry (e.g. Hes. Th. 590-610 [esp. 592 πήμα μέγα θνητοϊσι
μετ’ άνδράσι ναιετάουσιν]; Ορ. 375, Semon. fr. 7); the condemnation of women
is often not absolute but directed only at certain ones (cf. Hes. Op. 702-3 ού
μέν γάρ τι γυναικός άνήρ ληίζετ’ άμεινον / τής αγαθής, τής δ’ αύτε κακής ού
ρίγιον άλλο). For similar assertions in comedy, e.g. Ar. Nu. 41-55; Alex. fr.
150 with Arnott 1996 ad loc.·, Webster 1960. 214-17.
The fragment is structurally similar to frr. 34, 35, and 40: an opening gnomic
statement is followed by numerous examples in support of the assertion.
Breitenbach 1908. 167 dubiously suggested that this fragment belongs to
the play Αισχρά, apparently based on little more than άλλ’ ελαβεν αίσχράν
in 9.
1-2 For a similar example of poor planning leading to unwanted cir-
cumstances, cf. Men. fr. 299; for the decision to marry characterized as a lack
of sense, cf. Men. fr. 64. Note the chiastic structure of the opening sentence
and the enjambment of όρθώς, which may well occur παρά προσδοκίαν.
3 Cf. the story of Pandora, esp. Hes. Th. 570, 585; Op. 57, 89.
τω βίω Since one typical complaint against women is the drain they
place on a man’s resources, esp. food (e.g. Semon. fr. 7.24, 46-7; Ar. Nu. 52;
cf. 8), the word may contain some notion of ‘livelihood’ (e.g. Ar. Eq. 1101;
Pax 1212).
4 ή γάρ πένης ών Cf. the similar line-beginning at e. g. Men. frr. 299.1
δστις πένης ών; 802.1 όταν πένης ών (the latter in the context of marrying a
rich woman); cf. on fr. 18.6. For the poor, see Rosivach 1991.
4-5 Cf. E. Med. 232-4 ας (sc. γυναίκας) πρώτα μέν δει χρημάτων
ύπερβολή / πόσιν πρίασθαι, δεσπότην τε σώματος / λαβεϊν.