NURSE:Surely this doth bind,
Through all ill days, the hurts of humankind,
When man and woman in one music move.

[ΤΡΟΦΌΣ: ἥπερ μεγίστη γίγνεται σωτηρία,
ὅταν γυνὴ πρὸς ἄνδρα μὴ διχοστατῇ.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 14ff (431 BC) [tr. Murray (1906)]
    (Source)

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

Hence bliss supreme arises, when the bond
Of concord joins them.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]

This is the state of firmest happiness,
When from the husband no discordant will
The wife estranges.
[tr. Potter (1814)]

In which the better part of safety lies
That the woman should not differ from the man.
[tr. Webster (1868)]

The greatest safeguard this when wife and husband do agree.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

Which is the surest support of conjugal happiness, when the wife is not estranged from the husband.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]

Which is the chief salvation of the home,
When wife stands not at variance with her lord.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]

This is indeed the greatest salvation of all --
For the wife not to stand apart from the husband.
[tr. Warner (1944)]

Happy is the house
Where the man and the woman love and are faithful.
[tr. Jeffers (1946)]

And in a marriage that's the saving thing,
When a wife obediently accepts her husband's will.
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]

This, to my mind, is a woman’s greatest safety:
Not to take the opposite side from her husband.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]

This it is that most rescues life from trouble, when a woman is not at variance with her husband.
[tr. Kovacs (1994)]

This is what keeps a marraige intact more than anything, when a husband can count on complete support from his wife.
[tr. Davie (1996)]

That, you see, is how a woman earns her security: never argue with your husband!
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]

This is what brings the greatest stability at home:
when a woman does not challenge her husband.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]

That’s when life is most secure and safe,
when woman and her husband stand as one.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]

This provides the greatest security,
when a wife doesn't oppose her husband.
[tr. Kovacs / Kitzinger (2016)]

That is the best security,
when the wife does not quarrel with her husband.
[tr. Ewans (2022)]

This is the greatest safety [sōtēriā], when wife does not stand apart from husband.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]


 
Added on 11-Nov-25 | Last updated 11-Nov-25
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