Semonides 7

Semonides 7

(read in the intermediate Greek group today on the Latin Discord server).

God made woman's mind diverse (χωρίς). One woman he made out of a pig, who lies in the filth throughout the house, unwashed; and similarly with a fox, dog, the earth, the sea, a donkey, a weasel, a horse, monkey, and a bee; only the last, the bee is a good woman. Zeus made women the worst evil; all men think their wife is good, but they are mistaken. We all share the same fate. Zeus made it the worst evil, since Hades recived them fighting over a woman.

1) Allan in the Green and Yellow calls this poem a 'satire' -- not sure I see the humor. We have a little bit of mock-epic, but I don't think the comparisons to animals are intrinsically comic; and the narrator seems deathly earnest in his misogyny.

Some of his complaints remind me of other bits of Greek misogyny; for example, the dog woman "wants to hear everything and know everything" (13: πάντ' ἀκοῦσαι, πάντα δ' εἰδέναι θέλει), which is a bit like Zeus' accusation to Hera not to hope to know all his words (Il. 1.545-6: Ἥρη μὴ δὴ πάντας ἐμοὺς ἐπιέλπεο μύθους / εἰδήσειν). I suppose the latter maybe is comic too to the external audience, but it feels pretty serious within the narrative. 

2) Again pace Allan the ending seems too abrupt to be the original conclusion. Feels like we're transitioning to a mythological exemplum, which is not of interest to our anthologer.

3) According to Ewen Bowie in the New Pauly, Semonides himself is 7th c. and from Samos; led colonists to Amorgos (in the Cyclades).

4) The comparisons to animals and the natural phenomena generally remind me of Homeric similes; e.g. the donkey-woman (43-9) ignores blows and has an insatiable appetite, two traits also emphasized in the famous simile of Ajax to a donkey (Il. 11.558-562). Probably something going on here about archaic ways of understanding the world through comparison.  

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