Feminism in Greek Literature from Homer to Aristotle
Aristotle · en
So the warning comes, and then events move quickly. The husband takes
the servant, and by a mixture of promises and threats compels her not
only to confess, but to betray her mistress. When next the lover comes
to the house—it is alleged by the prosecution that he is beguiled there
by the husband, and although this is denied, it is regarded as a quite
legitimate plot—the maid informs her master; witnesses are hastily
summoned; the door, left unfastened by the girl, is pushed open and the
guilty pair are discovered together. Eratosthenes is struck down, his
arms are pinioned, and then in the name of the law and in cold blood he
is killed. The scene is like the last act of _Scheherazade_ without its
barbaric magnificence. Of the woman nothing is said, and the speaker
concludes by reminding his judges that his cause is theirs, and that
the only way to prevent illicit love is to take summary vengeance on the
lover.
The point of view, it will be noticed, as regards the marriage
relationship, is very different from that expressed by Plato or
Aristotle. Plato regards marriage as a temporary connection dictated by
mutual interest and dissolvable at will. Aristotle says (_Politics_, 7,
16):
As to adultery, let it be held disgraceful for any man or woman
to be unfaithful when they are man and wife. If during the time
of bearing children anything of the sort occur, let the guilty
person be punished with a loss of privileges in proportion to
the offence.
The philosophers see that marital fidelity is important chiefly in
relation to children and the State, and they attach the same stigma
to either of the parties who break the contract. Lysias, as a lawyer,
suiting his arguments to a male audience, takes much lower ground. The
husband smiles at his own infidelities, but claims the right to commit
murder when his wife retaliates.