Women just can’t be trusted any more.
[Ἐπεὶ οὐκέτι πιστὰ γυναιξίν.]
Homer (fl. 7th-8th C. BC) Greek author
The Odyssey [Ὀδύσσεια], Book 11, l. 456 (11.456) [Agamemnon] (c. 700 BC) [tr. Lombardo (2000), l. 274]
(Source)
Agamemnon, who was slain on his homecoming by Clytemnestra, is giving Odysseus marital advice when the latter visits Hades. Original Greek. Alternate translations:
- "For ’tis no world to trust a woman now." [tr. Chapman (1616)]
- "Remember still, women unfaithful are." [tr. Hobbes (1675)]
- "For since of womankind so few are just, / Think all are false, nor even the faithful trust." [tr. Pope (1725)]
- "For woman merits trust no more." [tr. Cowper (1792), l. 453]
- "No more are women to be trusted now." [tr. Worsley (1861), st. 54]
- "For that trust / Henceforth in women must never be plac'd." [tr. Musgrave (1869), l. 706ff]
- "No trust in women!" [tr. Bigge-Wither (1869), l. 455]
- "For there is no more faith in woman." [tr. Butcher/Lang (1879) and Palmer (1891)]
- "From now henceforth in women no troth or trust shall be." [tr. Morris (1887)]
- "For after all this there is no trusting women." [tr. Butler (1898)]
- "For no longer is there faith in women." [tr. Murray (1919)]
- "There is no putting faith in women." [tr. Lawrence (1932)]
- "Women, I tell you, are no longer to be trusted." [tr. Rieu (1946) and DCH Rieu (2002)]
- "There is no trusting in women." [tr. Lattimore (1965)]
- "No woman merits trust." [tr. Mandelbaum (1990)]
- "The time for trusting women's gone forever!" [tr. Fagles (1996), l. 456]
- "Women are no longer to be trusted." [tr. Verity (2016)]
- "No more is there faith in women." [tr. Green (2018)]
- "For there’s no trust / in women anymore." [tr. Johnston (2019), l. 577ff]