Archilochus 196A.15-53 (end)

The narrator continues: "one of these will suffice. When grows dark... I'll do as you say.... beneath the eaves and gates. Don't be stingy, honey. I'll hold toward the grass gardens.

Know this. Let another man have Neoboule: too ripe, twice your age, her maidenly flower has withered and the charm she once had. She's crazy -- to hell with her. May it not... that I have such a wife and be a laughingstock to the neighbors. You're trustworthy, but she's sharper and makes many men her friends. I'm worried that I'll be too eager and have blind children like a dog."

So I said. I laid down the girl in the blooming flowers, covered her up with my cloak, and held her neck in my arms; she stopped being afraid, like a faw[n]... I gently touched her breasts (the onslaught of youth) and her whole body, and touching her blonde hair I released my white strength. 

  • Lots more flower and nature imagery (grass gardens, maidenly flower), mixed with the actual flowers that the narrator lies the girl down in.
  • When the narrator considers the sister as a wife, the negative characterization of her in that state is a bit like the misogyny you see in Semonides 7 (concern with the neighbors, comparison with a dog).
  • I'm surprised that the girl doesn't make any response to the narrator's long speech. The shift to their love-making (rape) is abrupt. He seems to be trying to convince her -- but we don't get any actual description of her consent or lack thereof. Consider by contrast Theoc. 27 (a pretty similar poem overall), where the woman objects until the lovemaking is over.
  • The actual description of the sex is both detailed but also not very explicit (what exactly is happening?)

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