Not for the first time she reflected that there were many drawbacks to being a swordswoman, not least of which was that men didn’t take you seriously until you’d actually killed them, by which time it didn’t really matter anyway.
Quotations about:
chauvinism
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MEDEA: And furthermore we are women, unable to perform noble deeds, but most skillful architects of every sort of harm.
[ΜΉΔΕΙΑ:Πρὸς δὲ καὶ πεφύκαμεν
γυναῖκες, ἐς μὲν ἔσθλ᾽ ἀμηχανώταται,
κακῶν δὲ πάντων τέκτονες σοφώταται.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 407ff (431 BC) [tr. Kovacs (Loeb) (1994)]
(Source)
Euripides presses his thumb on the scales a little bit heavily here.
(Source (Greek)). Other translations:Altho' by nature form'd
Without a genius apt for virtuous deeds.
We women are in mischiefs most expert.
[tr. Wodhull (1782)]Nature form'd our sex to good
Of slight capacity, but to revenge
Of ready and inventive subtlety.
[tr. Potter (1814)]We women too art born
Most profitless indeed to noble works,
But cunningest devisers of all harms.
[tr. Webster (1868)]We women, though by nature little apt for virtuous deeds, are most expert to fashion any mischief.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]Besides also we women are, by nature, to good actions of the least capacity, but the most cunning inventors of every ill.
[tr. Buckley (1892)]Yea, our woman-nature 'tis --
Say they -- to be most helpless for all good,
But fashioners most cunning of all ill.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]And God hath made thee woman, things most vain
For help, but wondrous in the paths of pain.
[tr. Murray (1906)]And women, though most helpless in doing good deeds,
Are of every evil the cleverest of contrivers.
[tr. Warner (1944)]We were born women -- useless for honest purposes,
But in all kinds of evil skilled practitioners.
[tr. Vellacott (1963)]And what is more,
We're women, quite unable to manage good
But none more skilled when it comes to doing harm.
[tr. Podlecki (1989)]And furthermore we are women, unable to perform great deeds of valor, but most skillful architects of every evil.
[tr. Kovacs (Perseus)]What's more, we are women, quite helpless in doing good but surpassing any master craftsman in working evil.
[tr. Davie (1996)]We women might be awful at doing something good but we are very competent when we’re doing something evil. No one is better than us.
[tr. Theodoridis (2004)]And besides we are
women, most helpless for the good,
but skilled craftsmen of all that is evil.
[tr. Luschnig (2007)]Besides, we possess a woman’s nature --
powerless to perform fine noble deeds,
but very skilled in every form of evil.
[tr. Johnston (2008)]Also we were born as women, very helpless when it comes to doing good, but very wise creators of all kinds of harm.
[tr. Ewans (2022)]And more than this, we are women, naturally most helpless [amēkhanai], when it comes to noble deeds [esthla], but for all evils [kaka] we are most skilled [sophai] contrivers.
[tr. Coleridge / Ceragioli / Nagy / Hour25]
A critical, strong speech made by a man is “blunt” or “outspoken” or “pulls no punches.” A speech of similar force and candor made by a woman is “waspish,” “sarcastic,” or “cutting.” A man of strong opinions is defined as having “deep convictions.” A woman so constituted is merely “opinionated,” and always “aggressive.”
POLYMESTOR: What need
For talk? The sum of all the infamies
The tongues of men, past, present, and to come,
Ascribe to woman, I’ll endorse, and say
There’s no such monster bred on land or sea;
And none has dealings with their kind, but know it.ΠΟΛΥΜΉΣΤΩΡ: [ὡς δὲ μὴ μακροὺς τείνω λόγους,
εἴ τις γυναῖκας τῶν πρὶν εἴρηκεν κακῶς
ἢ νῦν λέγων ἔστιν τις ἢ μέλλει λέγειν,
1180ἅπαντα ταῦτα συντεμὼν ἐγὼ φράσω:
γένος γὰρ οὔτε πόντος οὔτε γῆ τρέφει
τοιόνδ᾽: ὁ δ᾽ αἰεὶ ξυντυχὼν ἐπίσταται.]Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Hecuba [Hekabe; Ἑκάβη], l. 1177ff (c. 424 BC) [tr. Sheppard (1924)]
(Source)
King Polymestor -- who murdered Priam and Hecuba's youngest son, Polydorus, with him for safekeeping, in order to steal the Trojan treasury also entrusted to him -- complaining to Agamemnon about how Hecuba and the Trojan Women, out of revenge, killed his sons in turn and blinded him.
(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:To spare a long harangue.
The whole of what 'gainst woman hath been said
By those of antient times, is saying now.
Or shall be said hereafter, in few words
Will I comprise; nor ocean's waves, nor earth,
Nurture so vile a race, as he who most
Hath with the sex conversed, but knows too well.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]But that I may not extend my speech to a greater length, if any one of those of ancient times hath reviled women, or if any one doth now, or shall hereafter revile them, I will comprise the whole when I say, that such a race neither doth the sea nor the earth produce, but he who is always with them knows it best.
[tr. Edwards (1826)]To be brief,
If any in past times with severe taunts
Have censured women, if now any vents
His obloquies, or shall hereafter vent,
In one brief sentence I comprise the whole,
It is a breed, not all th’ extended earth,
Nor the sea’s ample depths produce the like;
This truth he feels the most who knows them best.
[ed. Ramage (1864)]Wherefore needeth many words?
Whoso ere now hath spoken ill of women,
Or speaketh now, or shall hereafter speak,
All this in one word will I close and say: --
Nor sea nor land doth nurture such a breed:
He knoweth, who hath converse with them most.
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1894)]But to spare you a lengthy speech, if any of the men of former times have spoken ill of women, if any does so now, or shall do so hereafter, I will say all this in one short sentence; for neither land or sea produces such a race, as whoever has had to do with them knows.
[tr. Coleridge (1938)]On behalf of all those dead
who learned their hatred of women long ago,
for those who hate them now, for those unborn
who shall live to hate them yet, I now declare
my firm conviction:
neither earth nor ocean
produces a creature as savage and monstrous
as woman.
This is my experience.
I know that this is true.
[tr. Arrowsmith (1958)]I'll say no more than this:
The old saying is true now
As ever was and will be.
They are a breed apart
On earth and on sea.
Any man in a woman's power
He knows that in his bones.
[tr. McGuinness (2004)]Not to go on too long, if any man in the past, the present or the future said bad things about women, let me top them all and say: sea or land breeds nothing worse. Even a brief encounter proves it true.
[tr. Harrison (2005)]But let me spare you the many words: If any of the men from olden days or if any of them now, or in the future, will utter ill words against women, let me put all those words in one short sentence: Neither land nor sea produces such a race and whoever had any dealings with them knows this very well.
[tr. Theodoridis (2007)]Let me tell you, if anyone in the past has spoken
ill of women, or speaks so now or will speak so
in the future, I’ll sum it up for him: Neither sea
nor land has ever produced a more monstrous
creature than woman. I say this for a fact.
[tr. Karden/Street (2011)]